All on Track for First Road to Be Fixed under SPARK Before Year-End – Minister Morgan

The Government is on track to begin work under the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme before the end of the year.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Robert Morgan, said that the Public Investment Management Committee (PIMC) approved the road improvement programme on Tuesday (October 29).

“I think that is something that is very significant. It was the last act of our now departed Finance Minister [Dr. Nigel Clarke] where he ensured that the $45-billion SPARK programme was approved by that entity,” he said.

He was addressing Wednesday`s (October 30) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

With the approval by PIMC, the programme will now go to the Public Procurement Committee, where it is expected to be approved, and then it will go before the Infrastructure Committee and Cabinet.

“So, we are on track for the first road to be fixed before the end of the year,” Minister Morgan said.

He noted that more than 600 community roads have been submitted to be repaired during the SPARK community consultations.

“We have, so far, had consultations in 62 of 63 constituencies. Each constituency would have submitted approximately 10 roads each. We will not be fixing all 630 roads in the first year of the programme, but a significant number will be procured.

“We will be having engagements with various stakeholders such as Petrojam to deal with asphalt production. We have been working with the presumed enterprise contractor about their alliances with the local contractors, who are very important partners in the SPARK programme,” Mr. Morgan indicated.

The Minister informed that a SPARK website is being finalised and is expected to go live in another two to three weeks.

“We will be publishing on the SPARK website every single road that will be repaired and a presumptive timeline as to when they will be repaired,” he said.

Responding to a question as to whether accountability measures will need to be put in place for SPARK, Minister Morgan said the Government already has strong accountability and governance frameworks in place for the execution of such programmes.

“The current accountability framework that exists in the government is the most robust that we have had in our history, which is why, if you look at the Integrity Commission report, the annual report, you will see that they have examined thousands of government contracts, road contracts, building contracts and they have not found adverse findings in any of them.

“The Integrity Commission has full rights, the Auditor General has full rights, all the government governance entities have full rights to examine every single government contract that exists,” he pointed out.

In addition, he informed that all the procurement rules established by statute have been followed to ensure that there is no question about fairness and equity.

Minister Morgan further noted that the contract, which is being reviewed by the team at the AG’s Department will contain a defect liability clause, which makes the contractors responsible for any defects that occur over a period of time.

“The Government is the owner of the contract, not the executor of the contract. The execution of the contract will be done by the enterprise contractor, who will be announced shortly, and they will be held accountable, as they are now being held accountable on the South Coast Highway Improvement project, for any defects that may occur. Under SPARK, there will be a defects liability period where, if they build a road and there are flaws, let’s say 12 months or thereabout, they have to fix it without any cost to the country,” he outlined.