No road patching in PNP constituencies - Pickersgill

Accusations and counter-accusations dominated Wednesday's meeting of the Infrastructure and Physical Development Committee of Parliament, as some members demanded answers for road repairs in their constituencies.

After being told that the islandwide road-patching programme had started, opposition members charged that nothing was being done in constituencies represented by members of parliament (MPs) aligned to the People's National Party (PNP).

Committee Chairman Robert Pickersgill, who led the charge, maintained that nothing has started in his constituency of North Western St Catherine.

"No road in my constituency has been fixed, and I know of several other constituencies," Pickersgill said.

The former minister in the transport and works ministry requested the certification to determine the roads that had received attention.

Playing catch-up

Pickersgill also charged that some constituencies held by Jamaica Labour Party MPs were benefiting from billions of dollars in road rehabilitation.

"So what is wrong with that?" responded government member J.C. Hutchinson, as he and government members moved quickly to refute Pickersgill's claim.

Hutchinson argued that the administrators of the programme were playing catch-up, as the ministry, which was led by Pickersgill under the former PNP administration, had neglected the roads.

He was supported by outspoken government member Everald Warmington. "Some constituencies were blatantly victimised in past years," he declared.

Government technocrats associated with the Ministry of Transport and Works and the Road Maintenance Fund for the programme of work told the committee that while they could confirm that the work had started, they could not provide details on the roads being patched.

"We would not be able to say which roads are being targeted," said Altius Williams, principal financial officer in the Ministry of Transport and Works.

Executive director of the Road Maintenance Fund, Clement Watson, promised that the information would be ready by next Tuesday.

Williams disclosed that apart from the $100 million being spent on the patching programme, another $7.28 billion was in the coffers for a comprehensive road rehabilitation programme.

The $7.2 billion is broken down into $720 million from the motor vehicle licensing fees; Special Consumption Tax $1.5 billion; PetroCaribe $410 million; and the loan from China Exim Bank amounting to $4.52 billion.

The technocrats were also hard put to respond to complaints that some parish council roads which had been recommended by the local authorities were not touched.