EDITOR’S NOTE: At the end of March, #InfrastruCaribe started a series on Caribbean transportation infrastructure, which initially featured ground transport, in our edition 2021-04-06. This newsletter does the same. Three Caribbean countries are covered, namely: Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. Three of our five articles are on Jamaica; one apiece for the others.
Our headline, taken from the Jamaica Gleaner, reads: “Tender Bypass: Procurement Rule Exemption For CHEC For MoBay Perimeter Road”. $1.2 billion has been allocated in the budget to commence the Montego Bay (Mobay) Bypass project, But, the project is to be negotiated with the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) rather than be tendered.
Otherwise in Jamaica, TransJamaican Highway Limited (TJH) — the operator of Jamaica’s toll roads — had net loss of US$1.87 million in 2020 attributed to the Government’s COVID-19 restrictions. And since the start of the year, the Jamaica Public Service Company has reported that 525 streetlights have been stolen from roads throughout the island.
In Dominican Republic, the private initiative — Autopista del Ámbar — to design/construct/operation and maintain a toll road linking the tourist province of Puerto Plata to Santiago has been declared to be of national interest. Finally in Haiti, works on the Bassin-Bleu/Port-de-Paix section of road are progressing under the watchful guidance of the Minister of Public Works.