The National Works Agency (NWA) is now making plans to roll out another round of patching on main roads across the island. The programme which will be funded by the Road Maintenance Fund (RMF) will see approximately 30,000 square meters of roads being targeted.
Chief Executive Officer of the NWA, Patrick Wong says that the programme is being brought forward in attempt to arrest some of the deteriorating conditions that now exist on some corridors.
He says plans are underway to carry major works on some of the corridors, however, given the budget cycle, these projects may not get underway before the middle of the year.
Mr. Wong says that against this background, the NWA will be using a combination of Asphaltic Concrete (hot mix) and Spray Patching methodologies to carry out the works on the selected corridors.
Among those to be targeted is that from Falmouth to Springvale in Trelawny and Morant Bay to Cedar Valley in St. Thomas. Both have been the scene of demonstrations recently. Mr. Wong says that several corridors in the urban centers across the country will also be targeted under this new programme.
In the meantime, the NWA CEO says work to rehabilitate several housing scheme, main and parochial roads under the US$ 400 million Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) is well under way. To date, over 50 projects have either started or about to get underway. These include retaining walls, river training works and road rehabilitation projects.
