WAY PAVED FOR MOBAY BYPASS
The Government said it is has applied for a loan from the EXIM Bank to build the Montego Bay bypass for which construction will is expected to commence next financial year.
“We have applied for the funding and I know somebody will ask if you don’t get it, what happens? I want to say it is one of the more interesting things, because we have a condition in the contract [that states] if we don’t get the money from the EXIM Bank, 12 months after the design is finish, the Government will fund the Montego Bay Perimeter Road,” Dr Horace Chang, the member of parliament for St James North West, said.
Chang was addressing residents of St James at a town hall which was held at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre last week.
“I can say with confidence, if we don’t get the money to borrow from China ... if it doesn’t come on time, we will have the money to build the road,” he said.
“The Government of Jamaica will fund the road if we do not get the money to borrow, and we will start this road during the course of [the] next financial year,” Chang said.
“I can inform this meeting that that Cabinet has signed off on the contract, that much we can tell you ... . For years we talked about this road and we never settled on anything that we could actually finance, [but] we now have a route.”
“This will transform the productivity in and around Montego Bay,” Chang said.
The bypass will stretch from Ironshore, just before the Whitter Village, go up behind Salt Spring, behind Cornwall Court, come through Porto Bello, through to Granville and end up on to the Bogue road.