Milton Hodelin, chief executive officer of the National Works Agency (NWA), said the initial design, which was done by the Cuban government, was reviewed by the Caribbean Development Bank, which signed a loan to finance the project.

"The review was done in Canada by Stanwell International and they have just recently, in December, come back with their recom-mendation," Hodelin explained.

Rock revetment

Stanwell International had proposed that a five-metre high rock revetment be built to protect the road against a category three hurricane. According to NWA officials, the final design would be resistant to a category five hurricane.

Hodelin said the recommendation from the Cuban government was similar, but it was not 100 per cent rock revetment. "The Canadians are saying that we will build a five-metre rock revetment and raise the road in parts, and that has increased the cost to US$35 million," Hodelin told the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament on Tuesday.

The work will not be completed in time for the 2009 hurricane season, but is scheduled for completion in another 18 months.

"We just received the bill of quantities and we should be going to tender shortly," he added.

Hodelin said by early in the new financial year, a contractor should be in place to continue the work on the Palisadoes road.

Heavy tides

The road has been damaged extensively by heavy tides, especially during a hurricane, and when the island has experienced severe weather.

The parliamentary committee is proposing that Government move towards a system of fixed-priced contracts.

Ronald Thwaites, member of parliament for Central Kingston, said that the contract system in Jamaica was too loose.

He complained about the frequency of contract variations and cost overruns involving government contracts. These, occurrences, he said, adversely affected taxpayers.