One Turd's 2/3 Mile Road = US$9m.... Value for Money

[Rudi]

Slight understatement Willie. LOL.

[Muadib]

Justified ?

Yuh mean if dem need di road ?

Mi nuh know.. wheh yuh tink ?

[Muadib]

How much should it cost ?

[Jawge]

Another reason why Ja will always be mired in poverty. Taxpayers will have to foot the bill with no real income to match (they earn just enough to have them return to change the bed, tender the garden, clean the pool and entertain in the srvice industry). Agriculture is really dead; can Ja really supply any of these growing economies if she was given the chance? please factor size of real estate and the ability to automate inorder to feed such population size.

There you have it, Ja is a sitting duck waiting until certain markets get leaner and more competitive, then the planter class who is accustomed to Govt. handouts (since slavery) will run away. leaving a largely uneducated sector to fend for themselves.

[Westman]

I actually build roads for a living. I have done all kinds of roads. The variety of roads which I have been directly involved with includes types and techniques that do not exist in Jamaica.

If a road has bridges and other complications as this one is supposed to have had, the price would not be unreasonable at all. Folks should not blindly jump to conclusions without knowing facts or without having the correct expertise. Many of the critics of this particular project are either ignorant or pretend to be ignorant that there are other road segments in Jamaica, which because of their complexity, are just as expensive if not more expensive than this one is.

Complex culverts, bridges, unstable geotechnical conditions, etc are among reasons why short segments of roads can be very expensive. Often these are subsets of longer segments which are done at this cost because of the economic benefit of this alternative or the overall cost of a longer alternative.

[Westman]

Are you actually an expert in road construction?

[Westman]

On what basis are you suggesting it is unjustified?

[Westman]

Are you certain of the facts or are you blindly following the leader?

[Westman]

Are you certain of the facts? Do you know the details of this road and the associated costs?

[Westman]

The Bogue Road is relatively flat and in my experience, as straight forward as a suburban Jamaican road construction project could be. Is that the case with the other road?

[Muadib]

yuh have time...

The cost and rational for the road was announced almost 4 months ago.. mi post di link and not even a peep..

PNP Puppet masters a pull string for political points and dem haffi respond..

Gregg Christie nuh even start di review yet and di yapping pon rapid...

[Jawge]

No but if you have all the facts, please present them. This way I can come to an objective and logical conclusion. Thanks.

BTW have you seen the new bogue road> How much would you have buit it for? (or maybe you did it

[Westman]

I am familiar with both locations. One is immensely more complex than the other. While we may have our political biases, we should not let those biases cause us to jump to create illusions of falsehoods.

[Don1]

The issue for me is beyond what such a road "should" cost.... that's a technical question that engineers and surveyors armed with ALL the details can estimate. I don't know that anyone here is in a position to give an informed estimate. Clearly that's a very narrow issue.... which is not even really my concern.

The issue of justification for the entire JDIP project is tied to the opportunity cost of borrowing vast sums at this particular time of distress to repair roads in order to get a political advantage in elections. This is something both tribes do and when it occurs it should be condemned imho. This JDIB project is the biggest election slush fund in Jamaica's history...at one of the worst economic times. When we see Muadib trumpeting the JDIP as a saviour of the current regime he merely confirms the tribal nature of the project... and that's a guarantee that the US$400m will be poorly spent for political advantage...and not where & how & when most needed.

The same minister whose constituency this election slush fund is lavished on with this 2/3 mile road extravaganza is currently shedding crocodile tears over the schools that could have been built with money the previous regime spent on a hotel. He needs to take a look at his own actions.... and onlookers should learn to pick sense from the nonsense perpetrated by politicians.

Hypocrisy abounds

[Westman]

Absolute non-sense. You have now decided to shift your argument. I know from my expertise that the project is justifiable.

Now with regard to your JDIP argument, it has been demonstrated publicly that this current round and the projects contained herein are light years more justifiable than the current opposition's projects were in their similar programs during their time in office.

I do believe the current government has erred in many ways. However, to say this project is represenatative of an error is wrong. The only thing possibly wrong with this is the appearance of a complex but needed project being performed in the constituency of the Minister of Finance. But then I thought, where should it go? When the former Minister of transport and Works had the early stages of the Spanish Town to Ocho Rios toll-road partially in his constituency, one of the largest projects, which was put on hold because of major geotechnical problems, I saw no problem with it. I am not a fan of his but I am fair enough to understand and say that project, like the current one, is a key expensive project, that is essential to the economic vitality of a significant portion of the country.