Rescue the perishing Montego Bay

THE EDITOR, Madam:

You will hear me say it all the time: Kingston is the quasi-colonial government that is creating havoc all over the country.

Long ago, only the gullies used to flood in Montego Bay, St James. That area between Cornwall College and Mount Alvernia at Chetwood over the cemetery along that stretch is in a little valley that has been a perennial challenge not new to us.

Over time, all the runoffs to the sea have been blocked off, from Unity Hall in Hanover to the old hospital, with no drainage or gullies to compensate for those blockages. The creek is now covered and cannot be cleaned with hands, backhoes or tractors. The last road used to be Harbour Street then the sea, but now with new road blockages and buildings all the way to the Bogue mangroves, the drainages have disappeared. Dump Up Beach is now another major blockage.

Today, MoBay has been transformed from a seaside town to a seaside lake when it rains.

When Westgate, Barnett Street, St James Street and the town square flood, all the way to Long Hill, you know how serious things are; you cannot blame ineptitude, it is worse than that.

No more hotels or buildings should be built on the beach side of any town in Jamaica – whether in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Savanna-la-Mar, Lucea, Green Island, Port Antonio, you name it. There should be no more growth without development of basic drainage mitigation infrastructure. That is what Montego Bay and other places are suffering from now, in addition to selfish profit motives.

Let us rescue the perishing Montego Bay by having growth with development for a change.

MICHAEL SPENCE