Government To Implement Maintenance Programme For 5,000 Km Of Roads

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Everald Warmington, says the Government is moving to implement a proper maintenance programme for 5,000 km of roads under control of Central Government.

Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (February 2), Mr. Warmington said maintenance work will be viewed as either preventative maintenance or corrective maintenance, which includes performance standards, routine maintenance, periodic maintenance, rehabilitation and emergency repairs.

“For performance standards, the most effective team size, equipment, methods and procedures for performing the work will be defined for each significant maintenance work item to be utilised,” he said.

“Routine Maintenance (which is preventative maintenance) is the day-to-day maintenance of our highways and will be carried out throughout the year, for example, bushing, cleaning, side drains and small repairs to pavement surfaces,” he added.

Mr. Warmington said periodic maintenance (also preventative maintenance), will be carried out, usually at intervals of a number of years and will include resurfacing of the pavement (re-gravelling, resealing or overlaying).

“It is important to note that we are dealing with very old infrastructure, and over the years, inadequate funding to satisfy the needs of not only our main roads but also some of our secondary roads,” he said.

He noted that rehabilitative maintenance will be carried out when a particular road element has reached a stage where, despite routine maintenance, it does not fulfil the function for which it was originally intended.

Mr. Warmington said emergency repairs will be carried out following heavy damage caused by floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

“We will have to establish the updated condition of each road. This will be done by using geographic information systems (GIS) and other methods to audit the condition of the roads. The last Road Condition Survey was done in 2014,” he informed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Warmington said that the Planning Department, through its Road Planning Unit, will urgently commence condition surveys on all the roads under Central Government control.

“This has to be done before we can put in place a realistic maintenance programme and will allow for the necessary funding to be sourced and prepared,” he noted.

Mr. Warmington also informed that the works of the National Works Agency must be dovetailed with that of the National Water Commission.

“The National Works Agency cannot complete a project and the National Water Commission comes along shortly afterwards to dig up the roads. There must be planning and coordination between both agencies, so that this practice is a thing of the past. The two agencies, however, have begun collaborating and this will be strengthened,” he emphasised.