EDITORIAL - Mike Henry's big chance

Jamaica's infrastructure was in pretty poor shape before its pounding from the tropical storm, Nicole, last week.

For instance, prior to the hammering, about 70 per cent of the country's 25,000 kilometres of roadway was deemed by the National Works Agency (NWA) to be in poor condition. Only about 10 per cent was held to be decent. Moreover, bridges, drains, culverts ... and more were crumbling.

They are now far worse - a fact that is no doubt concentrating the minds of key policymakers, particularly Finance Minister Audley Shaw and the transport and works minister, Mike Henry.

The minister and his technocrats have placed a preliminary cost for the damage left by the rains at $12 billion, which is nearly one per cent of Jamaica's gross domestic product. But it is not the immediate cost of repairs to infrastructure that will concern his colleague, Minister Shaw. Stalled production in several sectors over several days will have affected output, and possibly tax collection.

Standby agreement

All this is happening in the context of Jamaica's standby agreement with the Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF), the absence of a substantial budgetary cushion and Mr Shaw's need to maintain tight fiscal discipline. Or, put mildly, Mr Shaw is in a tight place with little room to wiggle. He will, by now, have opened conversations with the IMF and the other multilateral lending agencies, whose support for Jamaica is contingent on the IMF agreement.

But for all the difficulties posed by the rains, the situation does open a few options to the administration and, in particular, Minister Henry. The openings should be grabbed.

Fortuitously, the administration has access to the nearly US$400 million (J$39 billion) it has borrowed from China for a five-year infrastructure development project.

Circumstances will now dictate that the administration reorient priorities and for Mr Henry and the NWA boss, Patrick Wong, to reverse the perception that the infrastructure redevelopment project was being managed in a partisan, non-transparent manner.

Original work programme

The original work programme can no longer be sacrosanct, except in so far as planned projects coincide with post-Nicole priorities. In other words, the NWA must now urgently determine what infrastructure work demands immediate attention. In the current situation, these may not be the feel-good ones that tickle the fancy of parliamentary representatives. It is important, however, for Mr Wong and Minister Henry to be open about what is now being done and why.

Mr Henry must also pull back from showy, legacy projects and concentrate on solutions that are vital and practical. And he must ensure that Jamaica gets the best value for the money spent.

In that respect, a US$65-million four-lane (even if two of them are not tarmaced) highway, raised 10 feet, along the Palisadoes strip to the Manley airport can't be a priority. We, too, like boardwalks and bicycle tracks. But a $25-million project of groynes and retaining walls will do little to protect the Kingston Harbour

The savings from prestige projects could be allocated to the repair of other roads, bridges and other vital bits of infrastructure that have had no attention in too many years.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.