Works minister, Robert Morgan, is hitting back at the National Caucus of People’s National Party, PNP, Councillors, for what he says is a misleading comparison between funding for the government’s SPARK programme and the money allocated for parochial roads.
SPARK stands for Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network.
Shaloy Smikle reports.
The exchange started after Robert Morgan, in a media interview, said most of Jamaica’s roads are the responsibility of the municipal corporations.
He said that lack of public awareness has resulted in central government and members of Parliament taking criticism for roads outside their responsibility.
Morgan argued that some of that blame should instead rest with municipal corporations, which are not always keeping up their end of the bargain, whether due to resource constraints or a lack of interest.
But in a release on Tuesday, the National Caucus of PNP Councillors hit back, noting that the issue is not about accountability.
President of the caucus, Mayor Norman Scott, argues that the government’s road programmes get more funding than the Councillors’ Parochial Revenue Fund.
That comment drew the ire of the works minister, who, in a statement hours later described Scott’s financial comparison as misleading and disingenuous.
According to Morgan, SPARK explicitly includes billions allocated to road infrastructure, sewage, fibre infrastructure, water infrastructure and sidewalks and drainage construction.
He also notes that the caucus failed to disclose that local authorities collect independent operating revenue from approximately 30 distinct internal sources, including revenues from trade, shop, and market fees to subdivision, billboard, and parking charges.
On the matter of more resources for parochial roads, Morgan believes the municipal corporations must be more transparent about how those funds are being managed.
Morgan ended with a jab at the opposing party, noting that management of increased public resources has not resulted in better roads for the Jamaican people but instead has resulted in close to $2 billion of misappropriation and fraud by municipal corporations under the leadership of the PNP.
He says this includes the Manchester Municipal Corporation and Mayor Scott’s own St Catherine Municipal Corporation.
