Sparks fly over SPARK project at St Bess municipal meeting
Published:Monday | June 17, 2024 | 12:06 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The ambitious $40-billion Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to Our Road Network (SPARK) programme, which Prime Minister Andrew Holness says is to address and improve the islands road network, is being viewed through different lenses by councillors of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation (StEMC).
Speaking at last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-led corporation, former mayor of Black River, Everton Fisher, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) councillor for the Balaclava division, described SPARK as an injustice to local government practitioners and is calling for the prime minister to re-examine and adjust the implementation of the project.
“The way forward is not clear for the local government practitioners as to how they will benefit,” said Fisher, who took objection to the ongoing consultations, saying councillors are more like observers than decision-makers.
“At the end of the day, I still believe that it is going to be left to the final decision-making people – the MP (member of parliament), those at the CDF (Constituency Development Fund) office and those at the ministry… the Office of the Prime Minister, in selecting the roads.”
Fisher said his concerns are not personal but a reflection of the reality, which is facing the island’s 228 councillors, who might find themselves not able to deliver on the promises they made to their constituents as it relates to road repairs.
However, Mayor Richard Solomon, who leads the JLP majority at the StEMC, said Fisher’s assertions are baseless, while labelling SPARK as a great, inclusive initiative structured to benefit all councillors.
“We are a part of the process, and I am encouraging councillors to participate in the consultations, let your voice be heard when they are asking about roads of priority,” said Solomon. “To say that our input is totally not acknowledged, and we are not a part of the process, I think is an unfortunate statement and we must speak the facts as it is.
“I think we must give it a chance, let us give it a chance because I am hearing the councillor (Fisher) assuming how the roads will be selected. We can’t make that assumption here … it is a process. Let us give the process a chance.”
Communication issues
Several councillors on both sides of the political divide stated that they were not invited to the consultations held in the constituencies in which their divisions fall and, like Fisher, some questioned whether their input and involvement are being viewed as integral to the programme.
However, in further defence of the programme, Solomon, who stated that he was invited to and participated in a consultation in his constituency, said there appears to be communication issues as it relates to those councillors who were not invited to the consultations in their constituency. He noted that going forward he would seek to have those concerns addressed.