The government has completed 26 roads and spent $26 million of the $100 million borrowed from the Bank of Latin America for a major island-wide rehabilitation scheme, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Works Santia Bradshaw, while acknowledging that progress has been slowed by underground rock, utility works and other unforeseen obstacles.
At a press conference on Wednesday at the Ministry of Transport and Works’ (MTW) temporary offices in Haggatt Hall, St Michael, Bradshaw set out the current status of the project funded by the Latin American development bank, Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF). The seven-year scheme is now in its third phase. Funded through a loan agreement signed in 2017 by the previous government, phase one began in January 2018.
“To date from that $100 million, we have actually spent about 26 million on the roads that have been completed and the roads that are currently in progress,” Bradshaw said. “We have about 26 roads that have been completed…. We’ve also identified another 11 roads for roller-compacted concrete.” A further five roads are to be announced shortly.
