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EIGHTEEN months after its pledge to reintroduce the "Length Man" road programme for unemployed Jamaicans, especially in rural areas, the Government is preparing to start a pilot within months.
Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Everald Warmington assured the House of Representatives Wednesday that the programme is slated to come on stream in coming months for the maintenance of roadways across the island.
He said that with an initial budget of $500 million, the pilot for the programme will have four components: visual inspections, preventative maintenance, mapping of road assets, and environmental stewardship.
Some 62 corridors have already been identified as the pilot areas, such as Dunrobin Avenue in St Andrew, Twickenham Park Road in St Catherine, Washington Boulevard, also in St Andrew, and the entire length of the Mandela Highway, which is a highly trafficked area.
The project was announced during Prime Minister Andrew Holness's speech to the 2019 annual conference of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) at the National Arena, when he said that the programme would be introduced across Jamaica "to employ people who have not benefited from the Government's prosperity programme".
"We expect that the programme will employ a significant number of people right across rural Jamaica to ensure that they get a little piece of the prosperity," he said, noting that "the progress to prosperity sometimes can seem unfair to people who have not seen or felt the benefits".
Warmington, who was speaking in the annual sectoral debate on his roads portfolio, explained that the original concept of a Length Man is "an individual employed to maintain a specified length of roadway in the area in which he resides".
"On a monthly basis, the road sections under the programme would be checked by government personnel to ensure that the work is up to par and to approve payment to the responsible individuals. If the work is not up to the required standard, then payment will not be approved until it is," he warned.
He explained that the Government believes that an obvious advantage of this type of programme is that the individual is more likely to take pride and care in the maintenance and beautification of a roadway in his community, as he is directly benefiting from it.
He said that community members, also, would likely know which individual is responsible for what section of road and would emit pressure on that individual to ensure that the work is done properly.
He said that the new Length Man programme, as conceptualised by the Government as a technology-enabled, performance-based, labour-intensive, preventative maintenance programme for inter-parish roads and high trafficked corridors, will be executed by local community labour.
He said that the 62 corridors which have already been identified islandwide for inclusion in the new programme will account for 600 kilometres of roadway to be maintained.
He noted that the concept is similar to the original programme, in so far as the maintenance of the roadways is concerned. However the role of the Length Man, under this revamped programme, will be expanded.
"On the assigned section of roadway, a Length Man will be responsible for debushing, clearing debris, cleaning drains and culverts, as well as repairing minor damage to the road, the road shoulders and retaining walls. The Length Man will also be expected to assist the National Works Agency to leverage advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology," he told the Parliament.
Road conditions and road assets will be logged in a database, which will help to enhance investment decisions for pavement maintenance, preservation, rehabilitation and replacement.
Warmington said that the information gathered will also assist in predicting future performance of the roadway and its infrastructure. The four components of the pilot are: visual inspections; preventative maintenance; mapping of road assets; and environmental stewardship.
He said that the preventative maintenance aspect will include de-bushing, debris removal, side drain cleaning, vegetation control and/or minor surface repairs to the road, road shoulders and retaining walls. It will not include road extensions or any new road construction.
The data collection aspect will be in relation to the condition of the road, whether there are potholes and faded markings. It will also take into account road furniture such as signage, protective devices or safety features.
The environmental aspect will encompass the collection of litter, as well as the education of road users to raise environmental awareness and promote protection of the environment.