Announcement of Jamaica, Technical Assistance for Road Study on June 25, 1965

Ji HOLD FOR RELE;ASE u 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 u~ Gs ~m For Publication Subj~: JAMAICA -- Technical Assistance June 25, 1965 for Road Study The World Bank has agreed to help finance a feasibility study for a new four- mile north-south expressway through Kingston, the capital and busy cd~ercial cente~.. of Jamaica. The Ban}t:will pay the foreign exchange costs, up to $200,000. The Government of Jamaica will bear the local curr1ancy costs. The study will be under- taken by consultants to be engaged by the Government. Traffic on the existing north-south thoroughfare in Kingston is already heavy • a1~p is. expected to double by 1968. As the tho:roughfare has hardly any spare capa- cipy, traffic has already siphoned off into parall/il ;! ,,treets, causing congestion •! \, t/hroughout the area. As a result, the center 10£ Kingston is becoming increasingly cut off from the main suburban areas in the north. The urban expressway project .is part of a plan to relieve congestion. In April 1965, the Bank made its first loan to Jamaica, of $5.5 million tb assist in financing the improvement of three s1ections of a road on the main route from Kingston to the north coast.