$40m repairs for St James Southern roads before March 31
Published:Wednesday | January 11, 2023 | 12:08 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
HOMER DAVIS, the member of parliament for St James Southern, has announced that several roadways in his constituency are slated to be repaired to the tune of $40 million before the current 2022-23 financial year ends on March 31.
In a media release on Monday, Davis, who is also the minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister West, said that the repair works, which will be done by the National Works Agency (NWA), will focus on 10 roadways in the constituency and should commence no later than mid-February.
“This allocation of $40 million from the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation will result in a better travelling experience for motorists and the general public. These roadways have been scoured and damaged by heavy rains over time, and I am confident that high-quality work will be done by the NWA and that in very short order, members of the travelling public will have better road surfaces on which to go about their business,” Davis explained.
“The procurement process has been started by NWA, and we are looking at another four to eight weeks’ time to begin as soon as that part of it is out of the way. The intention is to complete the work before the end of March, which is the end of the financial year,” Davis added in a follow-up interview with The Gleaner.
Among the roadways to be patched and rehabilitated are Mocho to Niagara; Point to Flamstead Gardens via Tangle River; Springfield to Barnett Bush; Cambridge to Ducketts; Anchovy to Roehampton Square; Mafoota to Mt Horeb; Shortwood to Retrieve Bridge; Cottage Road to Springfield Primary School; the Spring Gardens road in Welcome Hall; and the Montpelier to Cambridge road.
Of those roads, the Anchovy to Barnett Bush roadway had previously been the subject of a $17-million rehabilitation project under the NWA’s Maintenance of Secondary Roads Programme in October 2021. That roadway connects several rural communities to include Anchovy, Welcome Hall, Mt Horeb, and Cambridge, and also links those areas to the city centre of Montego Bay, St James.
Additionally, the Cottage Road area and the Spring Gardens road are located in the vicinity of the neighbouring Kensington and Tulloch Castle communities, which were previously hinted at as sites for early road rehabilitation, in response to long-standing complaints from residents about the poor road conditions in the area.
Robert Morgan, the minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, with responsibility for information, had indicated on December 28, 2022, that the planned road repair for Kensington and Tulloch Castle is part of the ongoing islandwide road network rehabilitation and construction programme, which includes the building of the North Coast Highway.
In the meantime, Davis asked that residents of St James Southern exercise patience in waiting for their roads to be fixed, while acknowledging that other communities in the constituency also have dilapidated roads in dire need of repair.
“I am asking the citizens to be patient as I continue to work in the best interest of everyone. During my State of the Constituency presentation in the Houses of Parliament in October 2022, I made a commitment to have these 10 roads repaired, and I am extremely pleased to know that very shortly this $40-million project will commence and will be completed by March 31,” said Davis.
“Once additional budgetary allocations are made, you can rest assured that other damaged or substandard roads in St James Southern will be rehabilitated,” Davis added. “All of it cannot be done at the same time, so I am asking them to just exercise some patience, and in due course they will get their attention.”