Morgan dismisses Golding’s road criticism as ‘political exaggeration’

Minister with responsibility for Works in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development Robert Morgan has described as political exaggeration criticisms made by People’s National Party President Mark Golding about the state of the country’s roads.

Golding, speaking at his party’s annual conference in Westmoreland on Sunday, asserted that Jamaica’s roads are the worst they have been in his lifetime.

However, Morgan has rejected the claim, arguing that the Government has done a lot of work to improve roads and other infrastructure across Jamaica.

He cited the billions being spent on several ongoing road programmes, such as the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme, the Graded Overlay (GO) Road Rehabilitation Programme and the Relief, Emergency Assistance and Community Help (REACH) programme.

“The record of this administration on infrastructure is clear, structured, and transparent. To claim that road conditions are at their worst is a complete distortion of reality when the Government is executing the single largest targeted road rehabilitation investment in Jamaica’s history.”

Morgan stated that comments must acknowledge both the road conditions affecting Jamaicans and the work being undertaken to address them.

Citing historic data, the Minister argued that the present Government has done more to build better roads across Jamaica.

“According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, Jamaica’s road quality ranking climbed from number 85 (2012–2014) to its highest historical ranking of 57th out of 137 countries under this administration following targeted capital works. This directly contradicts the statement of the PNP president. Government records have also corroborated the WEF report in Ministry Paper 63 (The National Security Policy for Jamaica 2013), tabled by a PNP Cabinet of which Mr Golding was a senior member, which explicitly labelled Jamaica’s road network as ‘one of the worst road networks in the world’, noting that only 10% of roads were in good condition. The data is consistent and clear as to the condition of Jamaica’s road network and what has not worked in the past.”

Morgan said the Government has devised a targeted approach and has invested billions to ensure it improves the condition of the nation’s roads and delivers value for the taxpayers.

Morgan noted that Golding’s own constituency of South St Andrew is included in SPARK and has received unprecedented allocations to fix longstanding road, sewage and water infrastructure issues.

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