Nightingale Grove Scheme badly in need of good roads

THE EDITOR, Madam:

While everyone is celebrating a Happy New Year, we, the residents of Nightingale Grove Scheme in Gutters, St Catherine are devoid of anything happy. The residents have been suffering the absence of asphalted roads for over two decades. We feel like we have been discarded as we watch the nearby communities enjoy asphalted roads. Our hearts bleed to hear our vehicles scream when the undercarriage makes contact with the stone tracks we have to drive on.

No-one would have thought a community would cringe when it rains. The residents fear the floodwaters reaching our doorsteps. The already-bad roads turn into swimming pools and there is infestation of mosquitoes that spread chickungunya and dengue. The scheme is rather an old one and has many elderly who are not able to manage walking on unpaved roads, which have stones as sharp as spikes. In cases of emergencies, there are two things that are at stake, the health of the sick/injured and a vehicle that will need a mechanic’s assistance.

The situation is so bad that expectant mothers opt to stay outside of the community when their due date is near. Residents have to pay the Spring Village taxis double fare to turn off into the scheme in order to reach their homes. Our roads have been downgraded from ‘bad’ to an ‘awful track’ that not even animals meet up to play in the community anymore. The state of the road has even deterred the police patrolling the community. This has resulted in an increase in break-ins and robberies. It is rather unfair for us residents of Nightingale Grove Scheme who are tax-paying citizens of Jamaica to be subjected to this sort of treatment.

The value of our homes has sunk to the level of the dirt on the track on which we are forced to drive. We believe we have been dished a plate of grave injustice. We are appealing to our member of parliament and the Government to urgently fix the roads in Nightingale Grove Scheme. We believe we have suffered enough and would be grateful if the situation could be addressed in the new year.

RESIDENTS OF NIGHTINGALE

GROVE SCHEME