The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has accused Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie of overstating the level of funding available to municipal corporations, arguing that his recent comments have created the false impression that local authorities have adequate resources to maintain Jamaica’s roads.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Opposition Spokesperson on Local Government, Natalie Neita Garvey, challenged McKenzie’s claim that municipal corporations receive between $600 million and $700 million each month for road maintenance, saying the combined monthly subvention to all 14 municipal corporations averages about $473 million.
“The Jamaican people deserve the truth about the state of local government and the resources available to maintain our roads and other critical municipal infrastructure,” Neita Garvey said.
She argued that the minister had relied on headline figures while ignoring the amounts actually available to individual municipal corporations.
According to Neita Garvey, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), with 40 electoral divisions, receives an average of $85 million monthly, while St Catherine gets about $60 million. Clarendon receives $32 million, Manchester $34 million and Hanover, the lowest, about $13 million.
“The total monthly allocations available to the municipal corporations do not support the minister’s claim of over $600 million monthly,” she charged.
“The figures presented to the Jamaican public have been inflated, combining funding streams that are either restricted or simply unavailable for routine road maintenance. This is not merely an accounting issue; this is political propaganda.”
Neita Garvey said the narrative had unfairly portrayed councillors from both major political parties as failing to maintain roads despite having sufficient resources.
She argued that the current allocations are nowhere near enough to meet the demands of Jamaica’s road network.
“When we compare the allocation given to a council division to effect repairs to roads with the cost of repairing one kilometre of road, it would take a councillor four years to complete one kilometre of road with side drains. That figure alone expresses the inadequacy of the allocations currently provided to municipal corporations,” she said.
Noting that municipal corporations are responsible for more than 20,000 kilometres of roadway – about twice the network managed by the National Works Agency (NWA) – Neita Garvey added: “It is absolutely disingenuous to suggest that municipal corporations have sufficient resources.”
She said the Opposition is calling for greater transparency in local government financing, a fairer funding formula and increased investment in municipal corporations to improve road maintenance, disaster preparedness and other essential services.
McKenzie made the disputed remarks during a grant handover ceremony under the Clean-Up and Restoration Initiative in St James last Friday.
At the event, he said municipal authorities, regardless of political control, collectively receive between $600 million and $700 million each month from the Ministry of Finance.
“Roughly every month, the local authorities, whether they are PNP or JLP-controlled, get an amount. We get around $600 million or $700 million monthly from the Ministry of Finance, which is shared up, not by me as the minister, but … based on the number of roads in each parish,” McKenzie said.
Tuesday’s PNP press conference was also attended by Kingston and St Andrew Mayor Andrew Swaby, Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Danree Delancy and Clarendon Minority Leader Councillor Scean Barnswell.
– Corey Robinson
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