By John Myers Jnr., Staff ReporterBUSINESS PEOPLE in the Spanish Town Road/Maxfield Avenue/Waltham Park Road area of south west St. Andrew demonstrated peacefully in front of their establishments yesterday to draw attention to a dust nuisance created by an unpaved road surface.
The merchants contended that since the section of the road was dug up some four months ago, the area has been experiencing a serious dust problem. They said that this is adversely affecting the volume of business they have been doing.
Vando Palmer, spokesman for the National Works Agency, said that work on the site stopped as result of persons trying to extort money from the contractor. However, Mr. Palmer said some resolution was reached and minor work had resumed on the stretch of roadway by way of constructing sidewalks, drain channels.
He said that the contractor, Y.P. Seaton, "has been instructed to do work on it (that section of the roadway)." This will involve levelling the surface and at least oiling it until the complete resurfacing is done. Mr Palmer did not give a time frame for this to start.
Georgia Robinson, proprietor of a store in the area, said, "We have had a drop in sales. The only time you will see a crowd here is whenever people are purchasing Cash Pot. But as far as for drive-by customers, we have not been selling a lot."
Vanwick Miller, owner of Miller Appliance Store, said business was bad to the extent that "I even had to send home two of my workers". He said since the road was dug up "my business has reduced, drastically".
The complaint from other business operators in the area is similar. This led a group of about 100 to let their concerns be known by standing in the road with placards about 10 o' clock yesterday morning. They used old refrigerators, drums and other debris to cordon off the vicinity of the roadway which encompasses Waltham Park Road and Maxfield Avenue.
They said that this was done to divert traffic to other routes in an effort to reduce the dust problem.
They said the problem started in October last year when the road surface was dug up, apparently to effect repairs to it. However, since then they said, nothing has been done, except for marl and cement being put on it.
The merchants are calling for the road surface to be oiled in the interim to contain the dust nuisance.
