The government has pledged to repair some 40 bridges islandwide. - File MINISTER OF Transport and Works, Robert Pickersgill, says the government was currently spending $200 million to repair 40 bridges around the island.
Minister Pickersgill informed his colleagues in the House of Representatives last week that there were 800 bridges in Jamaica, noting that a number of them needed urgent attention and would have to be prioritised.
He stressed that the government took the matter of infrastructure and the environment seriously, which was why the National Works Agency (NWA) was formed in April 2001.
The mission of the agency, he said was to plan, build and maintain reliable, safe and efficient main road networks and control systems, which protect life and property, facilitate the movement of goods and services, reduce the cost of transportation, promote economic growth and quality of life, and protect the environment.
To date, the agency has been true to its calling, the Minister said, citing the manner in which it had managed the damage, which was done by four major flood rains within the last 15 months.
The Minister was speaking during debate on a motion moved by Opposition MP for Western St. Thomas James Robertson. The motion questioned the government's seeming lack of concern for St. Thomas in the aftermath of the flood rains late last year and called for the Western St. Thomas constituency to be declared a disaster area.
Mr. Robertson argued that residents of the area had suffered heavy losses but were still being neglected by the government. He said the area had also suffered heavy damage to infrastructure during major flooding last year with no relief in sight.
Pointing to recent statements made by Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, Mr. Robertson suggested that the interest of the people in his constituency was sacrificed while the government continued spending on other projects aimed at securing an advantage during last year's election campaign.
In September 2002, heavy rains from Tropical Storms Isidore and Lili struck the island within 10 days of each other. Prior to that in May and June, heavy rains and flooding caused St. Elizabeth, Manchester, Clarendon, St. Catherine, and St. Thomas to be declared disaster areas.
"I therefore can't understand why we should declare Western St. Thomas a disaster area, if St. Thomas was already declared a disaster area," the Minister said.
These events were unprecedented in the island's history, he told the House, with the rainfall in May and June 2002, over an 11-day period, recording as much as 590 per cent increase above the normal monthly average.
"Consequently, despite the most visionary planning," he said, "these disasters would not have been anticipated or foreseen". That kind of chance was rated 1:50, he said, in which context he added, "The NWA's performance was nothing short of spectacular".
The Minister said that contrary to the Opposition's claim that the government had ignored St. Thomas, the NWA had succeeded in mitigating the damage to the communities of Swift River and Bybrook, which were inundated.
The Agency also rehabilitated the approaches to the Spanish and Swift River bridges, he said, enabling them to reopen to vehicular traffic in record time, at a cost of just under $90 million. In addition, he pointed to the Harbour View to Morant Bay road, which was completely resurfaced at a cost of just under $400 million between 1996 and 1999.
In all of this, Minister Pickersgill told the House, "the Eastern section of the island got more than its fair share of attention, contrary to the claims which you heard from the other side."
The Minister said he could confidently say, that were it not for these unprecedented occurrences of rainfall, "we would have been well ahead in the continued rehabilitation of infrastructure in the East, including Western St. Thomas".
