North Coast Highway - Third phase to begin in June
published: Tuesday | February 10, 2004

By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

CONSTRUCTION OF Segment Three of the North Coast Highway is on schedule to commence in June, according to Ivan Anderson, Chief Executive Officer off the National Works Agency (NWA).

Mr. Anderson, appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on January 28, revealed that tenders on the contract for the project should all be returned by February 3, to facilitate final preparations for the work to begin.

Once under way, Mr. Anderson is predicting that Segment Three (Ocho Rios in St. Ann to Fair Prospect in Portland) will proceed more smoothly than the first two segments Negril to Montego Bay and Montego Bay to Ocho Rios.

"The Government of Jamaica's obligation was to relocate all utilities and carry out the necessary land acquisition. We have substantially completed all of that, which is a significant improvement on the way we did segment two and segment one", he told the Committee.

Overall, 882 parcels of land were acquired by the State to facilitate realignment of the roadway as part of this third leg of the highway improvement project.

Segment Three of the highway is being funded by the European Union with a grant of just over J$5 billion.

Segment One was completed in September 2002, about two years behind schedule, having been plagued by shutdowns due to financial and labour problems.

Segment Two, which started two years ago, is scheduled to be completed next year. After initially expressing some dissatisfaction with the rate of progress, the NWA is now confident that the work is back on schedule.

Vando Palmer, Communications Manager at the NWA, reporting on the meeting with the contractor, Jose Cartellone Construcciones, told The Gleaner that the Government's concerns were fully addressed. "Some of the equipment was not working. The plants for production of construction material were down and these are now back up and they have given us a new schedule that will take them back on target. They have given us a schedule of both production and operation, and they will double or triple their shifts to keep to that schedule", he explained.

The Northern Coastal Improvement Roadway, stretching from Negril in the west to Fair Prospect in the east, has been cited by the Government as an important catalyst for economic and social transformation along the island's North Coast, linking the main tourism centres.