REPRESENTATIVES OF the Jamaican Government and Malaysia's construction industry authority yesterday signed a Letter of Intent for the financing and construction of a bypass road for Montego Bay.
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who spoke at the signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia said the 12-kilometre toll road was necessary to complement segments I and II of the North Coast Highway development and to solve the problem of traffic congestion in the resort city.
He said the project was in keeping with other major initiatives linking the cruise ship port and the Sangster International Airport as part of the home porting development being contemplated for the city.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works, Dr. Alwyn Hayles, signed on behalf of the Jamaican Government while Mr. Hamzah B. Hasan, Chief Executive Officer of the state-run Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) signed on behalf of the CIDB-Ranhill Consortium, which will implement the project.
The Malaysians are expected to provide about 60 per cent of the US$70 million to build the bypass road and the signing was witnessed by Malaysia's Minister of Works, Sammy Vellu, and Jamaica's Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, K.D. Knight.
Hailing the deal as an example of meaningful South-South co-operation, Prime Minister Patterson noted that he and Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, shared a conviction that developing countries should collaborate with each other to improve the lives of their people rather than have their future determined by the developed countries of the North.
"By this signing we are opening a new chapter of co-operation between the Governments and people of Malaysia and Jamaica," Mr. Patterson said. "We value this partnership with Malaysia that combines the commitment of my Government to continue the development of Jamaica's infrastructure, with the visionary approach of the Malaysian Government to this kind of South-South Co-operation."
The Prime Minister said that based on the complexity of the project and the fact that it was being undertaken not just for the present but also for succeeding generations more technical studies, costing and design work as well as the accompanying land acquisitions would have to be undertaken. The current indicative time-table, he said, calls for the project to be started within 12 months.
Mr. Patterson expressed appreciation on behalf of the Government and people of Jamaica to the Government of Malaysia for their involvement in the project. He noted that the proposal for the financing and construction of the Montego Bay by-pass road came out of the September 2001 visit to Jamaica by the Malaysian Works Minister who, he said, had devoted much time and energy to the preliminary work and ensured its approval by the Malaysian Government. The project was spearheaded by the Development Bank of Jamaica led by its managing director Mr. Kingsley Thomas, who also attended the signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
Also present at the signing were Member of Parliament for North West St. James Dr. Horace Chang and Government Senator and Chairman of the Greater Montego Bay Redevelopment Committee Noel Sloley and NWA Head Mr. Ivan Anderson.
