Roadworks frustrate Newport West business leaders

Business owners in the Newport West shipping community have expressed their disappointment at the pace at which the improvement of the roads and drains in the community is being carried out.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ) last Friday, members of the association spent much time debating the progress of the roadworks.

Members stressed their dissatisfaction and disgust at the treatment meted out to the community by successive governments.

According to the members, 95 per cent of all goods - raw and finished goods for industrial and commercial purposes, imported into Jamaica - come via our ports.

Neglected

The shipping industry, they further pointed out, is among the industries that make the greatest contribution to the country through taxes and fees. Despite this, however, the roads in the community have been neglected for years.

In 2010, funds were identified from the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme to effect repair on road, and drains in the area. While the work began then, in July of this year, the roadworks came to a halt and all equipment used in the repair process were removed from the community. This, after roads were dug up in front of various business places.

Since then, the community has become a dust bowl and has placed an assault on persons with asthmatic conditions and other pollution-related illnesses.

The business owners further complained that the National Works Agency (NWA) has given several dates for the recommencement of work in the area, but, to date, has not fulfilled those promises.

The leadership of the SAJ has been put under pressure by its members, to agitate the powers that be - the NWA and the Ministry of Transport and Works - to move swiftly to address the deplorable state in which the community has been left by the NWA.