Jamaica Highway 2000 Case Study monitoring plan did not anticipate the issuance of 75 permits and licences. As such, sufficient attention was not given to some permits that would require greater attention. The Highway is Jamaica’s largest construction project to date: “It involved moving in excess of 15 million cubic metres of material, or as much as 1.5 million truckloads. We also had to deal with some challenges in a small area of the roadway where eighty 40-foot piles had to be constructed to retain the slope on Mount Rosser and stabilise the area where geotechnical issues were being experienced. Netting and mesh have been used to prevent rubble and stones from falling off the hillside and onto the roadway and it is not something that has been done before in Jamaica.”30
The North-South Link, 66 km of four-lane highway across Jamaica’s mountainous interior, presented major engineering, construction, environmental and social challenges. A total of 450 persons were relocated from 150 structures. NROCC handled all land purchases and compensated all occupiers at market prices and full replacement cost of all structures, even in cases where there was no land title. Construction met with a number of social and environmental challenges:
Runoff and siltation:
24
Siltation at Mammee Bay
On December 16, 2015, NEPA issued a warning letter to the Jamaica North-South Highway Company (JNSHC), the company CHEC incorporated to oversee the construction of the highway, voicing concerns regarding runoff and drainage into the sea at Mammee Bay. More warning letters followed. In response, CHEC constructed seven check dams at strategic locations within the watershed to try and contain loose construction materials onsite or near “Mount Rosser bypass most significant road engineering project,” Jamaica Observer, August 8, 2014, http://www. jamaicaobserver.com/news/Mount-Rosser-bypass-most-significant-road-engineering-project. 31 Vernon Davidson, “Highway blamed for environmental damage,” Jamaica Observer, August 6, 2016, http://www. jamaicaobserver.com/news/Highway-blamed-for-environmental-damage_69694. 30