The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) will be seeking to get approximately $18 million from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development through the Equalization Fund to fix two roads in the region.
Councillors voted unanimously, during Tuesday’s sitting of the Council at Jamaica Conference Centre, to request to fix parochial roads Norman Lane and Harvey Road. Both connect Waltham Park Road and Spanish Town Road.
In moving the resolution, Eugene Kelly of the Whitfield Town Division, said both roads are pivotal to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic and also serve residents of Portmore and Spanish Town, who use them to avoid traffic.
“There are several roads in my area that need attention, but I have selected Norman Lane and Harvey Road, because of the importance of these roads to the area for vehicular traffic and the road network to our beloved city.
“And so, I am putting forward this resolution for the Equalisation Fund support, because I want the proper rehabilitation and resurfacing of those two roads,” Kelly, who represents the People’s National Party said.
Kari Douglas, of the Trafalgar Division seconded the resolution and agreed that both roads serve as vital infrastructure to the network across the city.
“These roads give access to several residential communities within that geographical space and serve the Maxfield Park area, the entire Whitfield Town and by extension downtown, Kingston and that commercial district, especially most of us who use that area as a thoroughfare going about our daily business in that space,” Douglas said.
According to Mayor of Kingston, Senator Delroy Williams, with the council passing the resolution, the request will now be made to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the needed money.
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development uses the Equalisation Fund to assist municipalities across the country with some expenditure, which is primarily infrastructure type. These are expenditures that are usually beyond the resources of the municipalities.
