Morgan urges KSAMC to spend higher allocations on local road repairs

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development with responsibility for Works, Robert Nesta Morgan, says the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation’s move to raise divisional funding shows it has greater capacity to deal with parish council roads.

The KSAMC has said its Divisional Allocation Fund will rise from $10 million to $13 million for urban divisions, while rural divisions will receive $13.5 million.

Morgan said the decision undercuts the Mayor’s continued public concern about road financing, arguing that the Corporation has long had the power to put more resources behind divisions. He said the Mayor cannot criticise poor road conditions while leaving KSAMC’s available authority and funding underused, adding that the increase also applies to drains, mitigation works and emergency responses.

The minister said the Mayor now has more funding available than his predecessor, but has not delivered on promises made before taking office.

Morgan also said the National Works Agency continues to carry a heavy share of the response to roads that are municipal responsibilities.

He said the Government is open to working with the KSAMC for the benefit of residents, but insisted that partnership should not mean central Government taking on the load while municipal funds are not properly directed. Morgan said the Corporation must put its higher allocations into repairing and maintaining the roads it controls.

By way of background, Morgan pointed to 2020, when the Mayor, then a Councillor, seconded a resolution seeking larger allocations from the Parochial Revenue Fund for divisions to address roads and drains. Morgan said the Mayor understood the value of divisional allocations at that time, and questioned why similar urgency has taken so long to show up in the Corporation’s own decisions.

The minister said residents in Kingston and St. Andrew are entitled to clear information on how municipal road money is distributed, which roads are selected for attention, and the timetable for work. “No one knows how these funds are spent. Jamaicans deserve to know,” Morgan said.