Editorial | Roadworks killing businesses

It’s getting tougher to manoeuvre about Kingston these days given the enormous amount of roadwork, which has been ongoing since early 2018.

Indeed, it is truly a nightmare attempting to traverse roads such as Dunrobin Avenue, Constant Spring Road, and Mandela Highway, with the result that many productive hours are lost just idling in traffic. The worst outcome of all this is the aggressive behaviour of some drivers who disobey all the rules of the road in trying to get to their destinations.

Added to that is the stress on the environment and respiratory problems that can be attributed to construction work.

For business people, especially the smaller ones, roadworks have been a downright business killer. Many have aired their grouses publicly as they see traffic to their doors dwindle and their profits take a dive. These hardships are compounded by the fact that the roadworks have created disruptions in water and telephone services.

Interruptions to facilitate infrastructure improvement are expected as an economy grows, and we may even shrug them off as short-term pain for long-term gain. Everyone will benefit from these development projects – eventually. The question is this: are the businesses and communities in the path of the development suffering disproportionately compared to the rest of the population? And if the answer is yes, what should be done about it?

One idea is to introduce a construction-mitigation programme, and there are examples of how this has worked in well-managed cities as they seek to ease the pain of businesses in the path of road-construction projects.

This may be wishful thinking on our part because it’s in our nature to do things the hard way. We have been searching but have been unable to detect any attempts by city planners and the municipal authorities to minimise and/or even mitigate the negative impacts of these projects on the business community.

COMPENSATION

Hopefully, the policymakers will learn a few lessons from the chaos and frustration that have resulted from these projects. In future, we hope the city planners will try to make life less stressful for those who will be directly impacted by construction by first providing all the necessary information about the scope of the projects, including traffic changes, new parking arrangements, and general changes in public access.

This should take place well before commencement of the project, for this information is necessary for individuals to adjust their business plans. For example, people should be aware of how these roadworks will improve traffic flow and reduce congestion, whether there will be improvement to foot traffic or whether there will be dedicated cycle routes. We submit that it is critical that businesses be kept informed before and during construction.

Finally, we believe that there needs to be a national conversation about compensation in the current scenario. After all, why should one segment of businesses and homeowners suffer for the good of all? And is this just a risk of doing business?

We urge our policymakers and technical planners to identify mitigation measures even as they think about public works projects, for example, placing appropriate signage to direct customers to businesses that have been blocked or cut off because of roadworks.

Assistance with advertising and relief from some taxes are some other ways we believe that persons could be compensated.

We urge businesses and their associations to agitate for such a conversation to take place.