Residents lock down several St James communities to protest bad roads
by Christopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer · The GleanerWESTERN BUREAU:
Unhappy with the poor state of their roads, residents in several St James communities brought traffic to a standstill on Tuesday morning, mounting blockades to draw attention to their plight.
Police and fire personnel were kept busy clearing the roads in Adelphi, Content, and Paisley in East Central St James; and Porto Bello, Moy Hall, and Reading in West Central St James.
Several students and workers heading out of their communities were among those displaced.
Ophelia Wright, a resident of Content district, told The Gleaner that the bad roads have turned a trip that usually takes a few minutes into an hourlong journey, sometimes lasting longer.
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“I want the basic things that the Government should provide and roads should be among them. I remember it used to take me 15 minutes from Montego Bay to come up here, but right now, it takes me a good hour, to show you how the road is bad,” said Wright. “We are scared to think of somebody being pregnant and having to come out of this place on these roads. It is a long time that we have been crying for attention.”
Paul Ellis, a taxi operator who plies the Somerton to Montego Bay route, bemoaned the lack of consistent road maintenance.
“This issue has been going on so long, and from the time the authorities took the Public Works Department out of session, we have no road maintenance going on. Even if the road is fixed, in no time it is messed up again because there is no maintenance,” lamented Ellis. “I sold a [Toyota] Noah bus the other day and bought a Hiace bus because it is stronger to deal with the road, and every week or every other week, I have to change a control arm on it because of the road. Plus, a half-hour drive from Somerton to Montego Bay now takes an hour.”
The Government has been touting a $45-billion Shared Prosperity Through Accelerated Improvement to the Road Network (SPARK) Programme aimed at restoring roads that have fallen into disrepair over many years.
Last week, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the programme, which will begin next month, will target 60 main roads and 600 priority roads.
Anthony Murray, councillor for the Rose Hall division in St James East Central, said that the authorities have been waiting for the present rainy weather to subside before starting the work on the roads.
“These roadblocks are premature, and the fact is that work would have started, especially on the main road from Westgate to Adelphi," said Murray. "Because of the bad weather that we have been encountering over the past few weeks, that work would have been delayed.”
Although reports surfaced that the protest was instigated by Michael Allen, the People's National Party (PNP) councillor (PNP) for the Somerton division, he told The Gleaner he was unaware that a protest would be taking place.
“I only heard about the protest this morning [Tuesday], and persons have it to say that I orchestrated it, but I know nothing of it," said Allen.
"Yes, the roads are in deplorable condition, but it was promised that they are going to be fixed, and why it was not been done all along was because of the rain for the last couple of weeks. I can understand the frustration because the road is in a very bad state, but people cannot go to work and children cannot go to school, and if you want to protest, do it peacefully and let people go about their business,” he added,
Attempts to contact Edmund Bartlett, the member of parliament (MP) for St James East Central, and Marlene Malahoo Forte, the MP for West Central St James, for comments were unsuccessful.