We welcome Prime Minister Bruce Golding's declaration of intent to "spruce up" the roadway leading to the Norman Manley airport in Kingston, which has long been on the agenda of this newspaper.

For, as Mr Golding said on Tuesday, when he addressed a function to mark the opening of a new departure terminal at the airport, "There is no point in building a wonderful house if the driveway leading to the house is not in good shape."

While we understand the special pleading in the case of those roads leading to Norman Manley, we feel that all are in need of urgent attention, although for a slightly different reason as advanced by Mr Golding. And our approach would perhaps be a bit different.

Hub of Jamaica's tourism industry

Persons arriving in Jamaica by air come either to the Sangster airport in Montego Bay, on the northwest coast, or to Norman Manley. The drive out of the Montego Bay facility is pleasant enough, along decent roads with reasonably manicured verges. Montego Bay, after all, is the hub of Jamaica's tourism industry.

Kingston receives mostly business travellers. The roadways from Norman Manley into the city, like most of those throughout the capital, are hard and gritty. The façades of most buildings on the Rockfort to downtown corridor and along Mountain View Avenue are unkempt or decrepit. Usually, garbage overburdens soft shoulders and roadways are rough or potholed. The Michael Manley Boulevard along the Kingston Harbour into downtown could only shame the man in whose honour it was named. It is good that he is not alive to witness its deterioration.

About the people

It is this image of Jamaica that greets visitors who arrive at Kingston, and is among the last of their perceptions when they leave. But, as we have argued too many times before, the fixing and cleaning of communities can't be primarily for foreigners. It has to be about the people who live in them.

We feel that people who live in decent, clean environments are more likely to feel good about themselves and their communities, and, therefore, less likely to be uncivil and antisocial or display dysfunctional behaviour. In the circumstances, we are likely to see less crime.

Mr Golding plans to spend $100 million sprucing up the Norman Manley airport corridor. Maybe that is what it will cost. But we have constantly made the point that governments too often pay too much for such projects. That is to be watched.

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