ST ANN, Jamaica — Minister with responsibility for works, Everald Warmington, says that there is no truth to a claim that his ministry is victimising South East St Ann residents, adding that a contentious road project in that constituency is being delayed only as a result of established procurement guidelines.

The $30-million project comprises repair to sections of the road from Claremont to Higgin Town in South East St Ann, where Lisa Hanna of the parliamentary opposition is Member of Parliament.

In a press release, Hanna stated that motorists’ and residents’ protest over the road condition on Monday came almost a year after they staged a similar demonstration.

She claimed that the delay in commencing the repairs was due to “political victimisation and sabotage”.

She added that although Warmington advised her six months ago that “the contract for the road was out for public tender”, neither his ministry nor the National Works Agency “can tell us when the work will begin and worse if a contractor has been selected to do the job”.

“I am calling on the Government to publicly address this matter as we are being kept in the dark, and we are seeing other major roads being fixed in adjoining constituencies,” Hanna added.

But Warmington, in response, noted that he has no control over the procurement process.

“The issue is that Lisa just have to relax. She knows [the project] went out to tender and so she can’t say nobody is briefing her. What the hell is there to be briefed about? The issue is that it is in the procurement procedure now. You have different steps to take,” he said.

Warmington further indicated that a six-month wait for a project to go through the procurement process is not unusual, adding that some projects take up to 15 months to be approved.

He also told OBSERVER ONLINE that he too is frustrated by the delay in having projects begin.

“We are trying to find ways to eliminate some of the bottleneck that we have in procurement — some of the bureaucratic bungling,” he added.

“We are trying to streamline the stuff that we don’t have to wait for a year or 15 months for a project to start. We are now working on that. I am hoping that these projects can get away within three months or less to get them going — where a project does not have to go to PPC (Public Procurement Committee)… If it is over $30 million, it has to go to the PPC. Most of these take a long length of time.”

Warmington further stated that, although he understands the need for Hanna to provide her protesting constituents with an explanation, it is unfair for her to pull the victimisation card.

“She claimed political victimisation and is comparing her constituency with others in St Ann — which is rubbish,” the works minister retorted.

“Lisa always talks about political victimisation. [Yet] when she spoke in the constituency debate [in Parliament], she mentioned nothing about victimisation. She commended the government and National Works Agency for the work being done in her constituency and the responses she has received. So I can’t understand within that short period of time until now, less than a month, and she has this problem. With the demonstration, I don’t think that is the way to respond to it. She is not being victimised; she knows better than that… Lisa knows that, of all persons, I would never victimise her. Lisa knows that.”

Warmington also explained why the Government is planning to spend no more than $30 million on the project.

“What I asked for is for the team to scope the particular project with a limit of $30 million for phase one. There are many members of parliament. We can’t do one for $100 million or $200 million and the others don’t get none. So we do it in phases,” he said.

-Horace Mills