New Highway 2000 route proposed

[Karl]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>New Highway 2000 route proposed</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>Thomas frowns on change</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY PATRICK FOSTER Sunday Observer writer fosterp@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, March 11, 2007
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>A proposed change to the original Bushy Park to Ocho Rios leg of Highway 2000, which could start by October, has not found favour with Kingsley Thomas, chairman of National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC), who insists that the original route was more conducive to development and less mountainous.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to Thomas, the route now under consideration runs from Spanish Town or Bushy Park and will travel west of Angels in St Catherine, west of the Bog Walk Gorge on top of the hill and join the existing road at the Bog Walk roundabout.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=349 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>The Linstead bypass, starting at the roundabout, will be upgraded to a four-lane highway with overpass at the intersections and continue to Treadways. "This section of the road will not be tolled," Thomas told the Sunday Observer after the end of a forum staged last Thursday by the Management Institute for National Development.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The forum, titled 'The Toll Road. Did we get it right?', was held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Thomas said that from Treadways, the route will then take motorists around Mount Rosser through bauxite lands and up to Moneague, through Golden Grove and on to Ocho Rios using the existing corridor.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Thomas, who conceptualised and negotiated contracts for the Highway 2000 project, said he was more in favour of the original alignment of the road which took it away from already developed areas and through less hilly terrain.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"We should be doing roads for development," said Thomas, who relinquised most of his public posts, including head of the National Housing Trust, and relocated to Britain two years ago. "In Jamaica, we, instead, have a tendency to put down a bypass to bypass the bypass," he added.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=130 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Kingsley Thomas, chairman of NROCC, makes a point at the public forum titled 'The Toll Road - Did we get it right?' convened by the Management Institute for National Development at the Knustford Court Hotel in Kingston last Thursday. (Photo: Michael Gordon) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"Based on the receipt of the required approvals and the arrangement of an appropriate financing package, which will include the use of a portion of the loan of US$260 million received from BANDES of Venezuela, the first segment of this phase - the Mount Rosser bypass - could begin by the third quarter of 2007," Thomas said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The Sunday Observer was unable to determine whether cost was a factor in the proposed change. However, Thomas said it was based on advice from traffic managers in order to capture the heavy volume of traffic that already used the Mount Rosser corridor, the major connection between Kingston and the north coast.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The traffic studies for this phase have been updated and the process for the optimisation of toll revenue

[Karl]

RE: New Highway 2000 route proposed

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Which way are we going, Mr Pickersgill?</SPAN>
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>Mr Kingsley Thomas, we believe, has raised a legitimate concern about the proposed change to the Bushy Park to Ocho Rios leg of Highway 2000.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The proposed change, as outlined by Mr Thomas last Thursday, will shift the route from its original path through the St Catherine and St Ann hinterlands to sections of the existing road corridor.<P class=StoryText align=justify>According to Mr Thomas, the proposed change is based on advice from traffic managers who apparently believe that it will be better to capture the heavy volume of traffic that already uses the Mount Rosser corridor.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Mr Thomas' opposition to the plan, however, is rooted in his belief that highways should generate new investments in the areas through which they are laid and spawn fresh developments along those routes.<P class=StoryText align=justify>His is a point that makes perfect sense and is supported by the experience of countries in North America and Europe where investments in road networks have resulted in the growth and development of many towns into cities.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Locally, though, we have been a little slow in capitalising on the possibilities that the Mandela to Sandy Bay leg of Highway 2000 has opened up, except for one middle-income housing scheme that was constructed in St Catherine.<P class=StoryText align=justify>That disappointment, however, has not diminished Mr Thomas' point that the original route for the Sandy Bay to Ocho Rios leg of the highway would have opened up vast tracts of "under-utilised, arable, irrigable" lands for investment.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In addition, Mr Thomas' claim that the original alignment of the road would have taken it through less hilly terrain cannot be overlooked, as it raises the question of cost.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It seems to us, therefore, that the authorities in charge of the highway project need to tell the Jamaican people whether the proposed change will result in a more expensive road, and if so the cost. For that, we are sure, will impact on the price of the toll that will be charged when the highway is completed.<P class=StoryText align=justify>We feel the need for clarification. For one, we find it strange that such a change in the original plan could have been made in such apparent secrecy, assuming of course, that this is still public business.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Then, given the seeming proximity of the new route to the old train line running through the Bog Walk Gorge, is this confirmation of the belief that the railway is history because of the highway?<P class=StoryText align=justify>Not that there is no merit to the idea of keeping the highway as close as possible to the existing corridor. Chances are that going this route could more easily spur additional investments in the communities that already feed off the road. And those communities, we are sure, would not be averse to this development.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Whatever decision is finally taken, we are sure, the investment possibilities will remain real.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Our point is that this is national business and we expect that our Government will take the country into its confidence, as early as the planning stage, in order to avoid a repeat of the 'cass-cass' generated by the Portmore Toll Road.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Perhaps the transport minister, Mr Robert Pickersgill, will favour us with an explanation of what is going on with Highway 2000.