The politics of road repairs

The Editor, Sir:

The Ministry of Transport and Works must be commended for the massive road rehabilitation programme now under way, and my only concern now is: when are they coming to Portmore?

We were told once by a former minister that "the development of roads is the road to development", and here in Portmore our road infrastructure is in shambles and the only roads we have that can be considered as roadworthy are Passagefort Drive, Port Henderson/ Back Road, Dyke Road and Municipal Boulevard.

Oops! I forget to mention the toll road which is overpriced, overused and under repairs, so I don't think the minister needs to put any of the US$400 million obtained as grant funding for the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) project.

Road maintenance is very important to the development of communities and to national development and the Government must, following completion of the project, put measures in place to ensure that our road infrastructure does not fall into this state of disrepair ever again. For too long cheap politicking has retarded the growth of our island.

'Pothole-free 2003' never reached Portmore and the only thing we got was a toll road unable to last five years without major repairs at our inconvenience. I sincerely hope that the JDIP will visit Portmore, and while they might not rehabilitate all, at least the major ones, such as George Lee Boulevard and Braeton Parkway and a couple others will be on the list.

I am, etc.,

HOWARD HAMILTON

Portmore Pines