Robert Evans, Contributor

Evans

I was quoted in The Gleaner of Friday, September 22, 2006, as saying that many roads in Jamaica deteriorate quickly because they were not properly funded. I would like to expand on that position.

From the Jamaican public's viewpoint, roads in the island can be divided into two categories - those constructed by locals and those constructed by expatriates. Peripheral and unqualified observation supports the general view that carriageways built by the local engineers are oftentimes deplorable, while those constructed by expatriates stand out in their beauty, symmetry and longevity. This has led to the popular statement that Jamaicans can't build roads. Let me attempt to explode this myth. I will write in layman's terms to facilitate understanding by all readers.

A roadway is driven by a demand for transportation between points. The presumption is that the demand is year-round. Now, here's where there is a dilemma. Suppose the roadway costs $100 million and you knew that drainage, plus kerbs and paved sidewalks, was $50 million (or half) of the amount, what would you do?

Here are your options:

Do not build the road.

Build one half of the road.

Build the road without drains and sidewalks and plan (or hope) to add them later.

The choice is obvious. You realise that the roadway is needed for economic use, i.e., every day that the roadway is used people save money in some way, if only by saving fuel through not being obliged to travel a longe route. Or, look at it the other way. Every day that roadway does not exist, persons are subject to economic loss. And so, the path must be created with whatever resources are available and a 'sub-standard' roadway is constructed.

Rainy season

Then along comes the rainy season and, for the year, the road is impassable for perhaps five days. Does this mean you made a bad decision? No! Not at all! What about the other 360 other days that the road can be used? But there is another problem. The rains have no defined drainage path and so the roadway is the drain. Our mountainous topography often places us in a situation where the road is steep enough for the water to develop velocities that can cause pavement damage. And so the road becomes severely potholed and, probably, there will not be any funds to effect the repairs for a year or more. The result is that the pathway is still open but can only be used slowly and with extreme caution. Nonetheless, people (very angry people) are still getting through!

All the foregoing is highly undesirable, I certainly agree, but what can we as a nation do? Using my rough example of having only half the money, we could have chosen to build one-half the road network and have all roads in first-class condition. But where would we put those roads? And whom would we deprive? Road-building in any poor Third-World country (or developing country, to be politically correct) is a juggling act and has little to do with local engineering acumen.

Quotinga line from 'Foreign Press' by Lord Larro, "Our scholars are rated amongst the best." I note this is true for engineering. Many Jamaicans have received excellent engineering training at the University of the West Indies and have gone on to excel at the post-graduate level in highly-accredited foreign universities. Regrettably, some of these individuals have moved on to other areas of endeavour because of the frustrations in the practice of engineering in Jamaica. The point is that it is the elusive dollar, not engineering skills, that is in short supply.

In discussing qualifications, let me advise the public that, since 1997, engineering, like law and medicine, has been accorded legal status. That is to say, if an individual calls him/herself an engineer and is not licensed under the law, that person can be sent to prison. It is my belief that professional engineers are being fried in the fat of frauds, and I use this medium to warn the people of Jamaica to beware such tricksters.

External funding

Now, along comes a major road project funded by some external source because of our scarce currency. Invariably, expatriate engineers are awarded the assignment and funding is made available from the large pool of funds in the lending agency for implementation of a robust design. Consequently, they build a really spectacular road, and then the cry goes up, "Why can't Jamaicans build roads like these?"

Many local engineers are additionally affronted because their experience supports very cogent arguments that the expatriates receive far more advantageous working conditions than they do. There is also the fact that more than 80 per cent of engineering and construction is handled by expatriates, and this may be impoverishing Jamaica because this sector contributes approximately 10 per cent to GDP.

Of recent interest is the major flooding disaster in Port Maria, in November 2006, concerning a bridge where there was significant foreign involvement. On the surface, many may hold the engineers liable. As I understand it, though, the rainfall was greater than any for more than a century for that region, and this fact could exculpate them. If Jamaicans alone were implicated in this catastrophe you would never hear the end of it, and many would never accept that there might well have been extenuating circumstances.

Jamaicans built sections of the Spanish Town Highway, Queens Highway, widening and upgrading of Trafalgar Road, Washington Boulevard and Three Miles roundabout, Faith's Pen widening, and many more. Jamaicans could (and should) have constructed Highway 2000. I, for one, feel very strongly that we were denied this project.

I now invite Jamaicans to channel their ire elsewhere. Stop looking beyond the horizon for road-builders to come 'down' to Jamaica and instead join me in praising the National Works Agency and parish councils for their broad backs and courage in facing undeserved ridicule. They merit encomiums (certainly, most of the time anyway) for soldiering on in a hostile environment where one small pot is on the fire and everyone must eat 'a food'.