Patterson (left) and Jarchow (right) Al Edwards,
Acting Financial Editor
THE EUROPEAN Development Fund (EDF) which provided financing for the third phase of the North Coast Highway Project (NCHP) is advising the Govern-ment to revisit that segment of the project at a time which proves more financially prudent.
According to the Head of Delegation to the European Union (Jamaica), Gerd Jarchow, the Government should now focus on both secondary and tertiary roads in the country between Ocho Rios and Port Antonio which will link into the North Coast Highway when it is eventually completed. He said, that the EU Commission still expected the Jamaican Government to operate within the framework of a financing agreement for the rehabilitation of roads on the island's North Coast between Ocho Rios and Port Antonio and that if it chooses to go beyond that, a separate financing agreement would have to be drafted which would take over a year to be completed.
Mr. Jarchow said that funds from the EDF were specifically intended for the road works between Ocho Rios and Port Antonio and should be used for their rehabilitation.
He made his comments in an interview with The Gleaner against the background of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson's announcement last week that the highway project had taken too long to get off the ground and was to be reformulated to focus on repairing existing roadways. Mr. Patterson had said that of the 80 million euros granted by the EDF for the construction of the third phase of the North Coast Highway, only 40 million would now be used, with 20 million of that sum to be used to launch a national road maintenance fund.
The parishes of Portland, St Thomas and St Mary are to be the beneficiaries of this 20 million euro project with the road network in those areas being upgraded and refurbished.
But Mr. Jarchow suggested that the Jamaican Government should revisit the third phase of the North Coast Highway project when it was more financially prudent to do so.
"Government should now focus on both secondary and tertiary roads in the country between Ocho Rios and Port Antonio which will eventually link into the North Coast Highway at a later date," Mr. Jarchow said.
The EU had provided funding for the third phase of the project which the government announced last week it would be putting on hold because of extended delays in getting it started.
In 1998, the EU Commission signed an agreement with the Government to fund a 119-km stretch of road between Ocho Rios and Port Antonio which would form the third phase of the North Coast Highway at a cost of 80 million euros.
"The EU Commission asked the Jamaican Government to put up a further 21 million euros for land acquisitions and relocation of services to accommodate the third phase of the highway. In light of the Government's inability to come up with that sum, plans for the third phase of the project was put on hold," said Mr. Jarchow. He noted that in 1999, the EU Commission issued a document - the Support Economic Reform Programme (SERP) which cautioned the Jamaican Government to be careful with its level of expenditure as its money supply was limited. Also, it called on the Government to spend its money in a macro-economic framework.
He said that since the Government did not have the 21 million euros for the highway project, it should deploy its meagre resources in more important areas. It called on the Government to reduce its level of spending and to that end did not hold the Government to its promise to put up 21 million euros. The EU Commission decided that rather than re-align and construct the third phase of the highway, 60 million euros should go into the re-habilitation of the roads and bridges in the region between Ocho Rios and Port Antonio.
"With the present condition of the economy, the EU Commission feels this is not a good time to go ahead with the construction of the third phase of the highway. We feel that the rehabilitation of the secondary and tertiary roads in the corresponding areas will be better for the people in the region in that they won't be dislocated. It's better for tourism in that a scenic route of Jamaica is on hand and both the Government and the Commission save 20 million respectively.
"The rehabilitation of the roads in the third phase is expected to begin next year," said Mr. Jarchow.
The highway project with its ambitions to link the country's tourism hotspots was supposed to be at the centre of the Government's roads and works programme. It is intended to come in three phases.
The first phase, a 75 km road between Negril and Montego Bay is meant to be financed by the Japan Bank of International Co-operation (JBIC) at a cost of J$308 million.
The second phase would see the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) putting up J$700 million for the 95-km road between Montego and Ocho Rios and the European Commission through the European Development Fund (EDF) stumping up initially 80 million (revised to 60 million) euros for the 119 km road between Ocho Rios to Fairpost, Portland for the third phase.
