Harbour View to Yallahs highway 93% complete – Warmington

Making his Sectoral Presentation in Parliament yesterday (May 31, 2023), Minister Warmington disclosed that this section of the SCHIP would be complete by the end of August 2023.

“I can assure you that when next I speak in this Honourable House, it will be on the many benefits associated with this new 17 kilometer-plus stretch of four lane
highway”.

The Minister added that several communities would benefit directly from the road work.

“All the communities between Yallahs and Prospect will boast new road, water and telecoms infrastructure at 100% completion before the end of 2023. So too will those communities from Morant Bay all the way to Cedar Valley. As I speak to you today, we are over 90% complete with the works from Morant Bay to Cedar Valley. These works will be completed by the end of August 2023”.

Minister Warmington further stated that under the SCHIP, 37 bridges and box culverts had been completed to date.

“We have another 14 to be completed. Through this programme, we are providing the SPARK to better resilience in moving around the parishes of Portland and St. Thomas in any weather. Madam Speaker, places like Serge Island, Seaforth, Georgia and New Monkland, where poor infrastructure had been their lot can say for the foreseeable future, no more”, the Minister affirmed.

He added that to date, approximately US$266.2 million had been expended on the projects in the East, including Harbour View to Yallahs. This sum, he said, included a capital outlay for the installation of new water infrastructure.

In the meantime, Minister Warmington also noted that work on Tranche Three projects under the SCHIP would get underway this fiscal year.

“We have another five road sections, three in St. Thomas and two in Portland, to complete the programme of works. This we are referring to as Tranche Three projects.”

Tranche Three works encompass Prospect to Arcadia, St. Thomas; Arcadia to Amity Hall, St. Thomas; Amity Hall to Hordley, St. Thomas; Long Road to Manchioneal, Portland and Fair Prospect to Boston, Portland.

“Madam Speaker, we are speaking about another 36 Kilometers of brand-new road. We are modernizing the east through our infrastructural developments. The process to contract the works is now actively underway and we expect that the works, once they commence before the end of this fiscal year, will be completed by March 2025”.

Minister Warmington said important lessons had been learned in the implementation of the other projects and would be taken on board in carrying out the last five projects.

“We will not, under any circumstances, tolerate anything that will cause undue hardships to the public during the execution of these works” the minister declared.