Malahoo Forte blames years of neglect for bad roads
by Christopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer · The GleanerWESTERN BUREAU:
Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister Marlene Malahoo Forte says the recurring issue of poor road conditions should be blamed on years of mismanagement by individuals and government agencies.
Malahoo Forte, who was speaking at last Thursday’s Global Services Association of Jamaica’s (GSAJ) President’s Breakfast Forum, in Montego Bay, St James, told attendees at the event, staged under the theme, ‘Beyond the desk – Building Foundations for Productivity’, that the country is now paying the price for work that was poorly done.
“A lot of what we are called to do is work that was assigned to someone else in government, and when you put the pressure or turn the spotlight on someone, others are in the dark. The truth is that not everyone in government pulls their weight, and for a long time, there are people who believe that they do not have to serve the people. They do it when they feel like, and even the way in which they do it does not take inconveniences into account,” said Malahoo Forte, the member of parliament (MP) for St James West Central.
“Regarding the issue of the road, for the first time, there is money in government to fix roads, and yet the process to fix the road is so slow,” she continued. “It is true that weather conditions contribute to the delay, because you really cannot fix the roads in bad weather, but a pothole does not start off being a million-dollar pothole to fix, and it does not start off being one that brings traffic to a halt. The attitude in the agencies need to change, and I have realised that the government needs a shake-up like it has never been shaken up before.”
Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox
Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters.
Malahoo Forte’s remarks came two days after a series of protests in St James, including in her constituency, in which residents blocked roads to highlight their anger and frustration with the longstanding bad road conditions. The impacted communities include Adelphi, Content, Paisley, and Somerton in St James East Central, where Edmund Bartlett is MP; and Porto Bello, Moy Hall, and Reading in St James West Central.
However, according to Malahoo Forte, the issue of road rehabilitation is just one example of problems that the authorities struggle to resolve after years of being left to fester.
“We have fixed more roads than have been fixed in the last 40 or 50, years, perhaps since Independence, and still more need to be fixed. For those of you who commute on the pothole-riddled roads, dealing with the traffic coming to a halt, or just the bumpy ride, or the frustration that you experience, that did not happen overnight,” she said.
“We underestimate the impact of the many decades of economic decline and economic stagnation in the nation, when the government was mismanaged so that there was no money to do the capital projects. We totally underestimate the impact of those years, because even though we have managed to get the macro-economic fundamentals right, we are still struggling with efficient processes, and we are still struggling with getting things done in time,” she added.
Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon, who also spoke at the forum, said that in addition to road repairs, Montego Bay needs a dedicated transportation centre to help ease the traffic problems affecting the western city and the wider St James.
“In October, I made an announcement that we have allocated approximately $150 million for road rehabilitation across the municipality, and that has been delayed by weather conditions,”said Vernon. “What needs to happen in Montego Bay, and by extension St James, is that we need to organise transportation. We need a state-of-the-art transportation centre, as there are far too many satellite taxi-stands, too many bus parks here and there and everywhere that people are taking taxis.”