Roads Rehabilitated in North Clarendon

About 4.7 kilometres of roads have been rehabilitated in the communities of Sinks, Burn, Comsee and Jericho in North Clarendon, by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

The official handing over to the Sinks/Jericho Citizens’ Association took place on February 27 at Jericho.

Operations Manager at JSIF, Omar Sweeney, said the project was financed at a cost of more than $17 million. “The work included resurfacing, surfacing and construction of drainage structures,” he explained.

A section of the Sinks to Jericho Road that was rehabilitated by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) under their Rural Feeder Road Repair Programme.

He pointed out that officers of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) had agreed that the rehabilitated roads could facilitate increased agricultural production in the areas of approximately 25 per cent over a five-year period.

Mr. Sweeney noted that more than 3,000 persons in those communities would benefit from the improved roadways. He explained that the repairs were done under a rural feeder road rehabilitation programme.

Member of Parliament for Northern Clarendon, Mr. Horace Dalley (right) and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund’s (JSIF) Operations Manager, Mr. Omar Sweeney at the handing over ceremony for the Sinks to Jericho Road Rehabilitation Project.

He said that under this programme, since the Fund’s establishment in 1996, approximately $910 million has been approved for the rehabilitation of 103 roads across the island, most of which were critical to agricultural interests in rural communities.

Mr. Sweeney pointed out that 71 of these projects have been completed so far, representing a value of approximately $550 million.

He noted that in Clarendon, 17 road projects had been completed, representing an investment of more than $100 million.