Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby Defends Road-Funding Critique Amid One Road Authority Dispute

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby has rejected criticism from Minister with responsibility for Works Robert Nesta Morgan, saying the minister’s reaction to his concerns about the proposed One Road Authority amounted to a personal response rather than a policy answer.

Morgan said this week that he was disappointed by what he described as contradictory and misleading remarks from Swaby about the planned road agency. He also labelled as “factually misleading” a statement the mayor made at a Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation meeting on May 13.

At that meeting, Swaby said: “It is still not clear how the establishment of the One Road Authority will address the issue of inadequate financial resources for local authorities. There has been no clear indication on how municipal corporations will gain access to increased allocations needed to properly maintain and rehabilitate roads under our responsibility.”

Morgan also took issue with the mayor’s broader argument that local government bodies “are simply not funded at the level that allows us to properly maintain roads under our care.”

Responding to the minister, Swaby said: “I’m not surprised by Minister Morgan’s outbursts. He’s playing from his usual playbook, where whenever anyone makes a positive criticism, he tries to become negative and personal.”

“You’ll remember last year when Leader of Opposition Mark Golding made some comments about the state of garbage in Jamaica, and he tried to embarrass the leader of opposition,” Swaby added.

The mayor maintained that the central issue is whether the One Road Authority will bring more money to local authorities, including the KSAMC.

According to Swaby, the KSAMC gets an average of $85 million each month from parochial revenue funds for road-related work, but he argued that the figure cannot cover the needs across Kingston and St Andrew.

“The average cost to repair a road in Kingston and St Andrew falls anywhere between $6.5 million to $8 million,” he said. “If we receive $85 million per month, it means that we only can fix 10 to 13 roads out of the 40 divisions in Kingston and St Andrew.”

Swaby said the same pool of money is not reserved only for road repairs, as it must also support hurricane mitigation, employment programmes and other duties carried out by the municipal corporation.

“Even if we had received the $85 million just to do road work, rehabilitation or patching, it would not be enough to satisfy Kingston and St Andrew. Approximately 70 per cent of the roads in Kingston and St Andrew fall under the KSAMC and 30 per cent falls under the NWA,” Swaby said.

He added that the KSAMC frequently does road work in downtown Kingston’s commercial areas, even where those roads are the responsibility of the National Works Agency.

“I’m not satisfied with the state of roads in Kingston and St Andrew and that is the reason why I am speaking up,” Swaby said.

The mayor also criticised how property tax revenue is shared, saying local authorities receive only 7.5 per cent of collections while most of the money goes to the National Solid Waste Management Authority.

“We were both elected to serve in the best interests of Jamaicans. Let us spend our time doing that, other than calling names or describing persons,” he added.