Free at last!

It's rare that large corporations do anything for nothing. So, I was surprised to read today that a French construction company has offered to repair the damage to an important road passage in Jamaica for free (see report in The Observer). The company, Bouygues, developer of Highway 2000, has offered to repair the damage to the Bog Walk gorge caused by the passage of Tropical Storm Gustav just over a week ago, free of charge. Cynics may immediately jump to one of several conclusions or ask one of several questions. Is this because the company is making so much from the deal governing tolls for Highway 2000? Is it a way of keeping itself in the good eye of government for consideration for future construction deals? Louis Brais, branch and project director, said that it was simply that "Bouygues is in the unique position in Jamaica - having for six years the Highway 2000 project - to react quickly." Bouyges may want to keep itself in the unique position of being the highway constructor of choise, but perish such thoughts.

I'm not going to be immediately cynical and will hold to the belief that this munificent gesture is genuine. So, while we should not look this gift horse in the mouth, the onus remains, however, on government to convince and prove that this deal remains a gift, rather than a trojan horse. Bouyges may well negotiate a sweet deal when it comes to maintaining the repaired road, and woe betide them if the maintenance fees seem on the high side. I'm not sure how good the Jamaican public is at scritinizing its public affairs--from what one reads, the newspapers are usually not afraid to probe and often to find misdoings. Government ministers know that accountability means something and that jail is not out of the question.