Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
PICKERSGILL
THE PORTMORE Citizens' Advisory Council (PCAC) is threatening to boycott the Portmore leg of the Highway 2000 toll road because Robert Pickersgill, Minister of Transport and Works, has failed to convene a promised meeting with residents.
After an initial meeting in February, then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson gave directives to Mr. Pickersgill to chair another meeting with residents within one month.
Yvonne McCormack, chairman of the PCAC, said the meeting was to strategise the way forward on Government's $625 million road rehabilitation programme.
EXPENSIVE PLEDGE
The expensive pledge would see major remedial work on the Mandela Highway, Marcus Garvey Drive, Port Henderson Road, Passagefort Drive and Portmore Parkway.
More than two months have passed and residents are still waiting, claiming they believe Mr. Pickersgill has neglected them.
"Dodging is not the right word; he is ignoring the issues ... He is not making any effort to convene the meeting," said a frustrated Ms. McCormack.
She said efforts to contact the Transport Minister have been futile. She added: "You can't avoid citizens, how do you do that?"
Likewise, The Gleaner's attempts to reach the minister were unsuccessful.
Now the PCAC is contemplating promoting a boycott of the new roadway unless Mr. Pickersgill meets with residents.
"We would have to resist the toll until a representative speaks to us ... We not working for them, they are working for us," said Ms. McCormack.
Jean Noel Foulard, managing director of Bouygues Travaux in Jamaica, the French contractors working on the Highway 2000 project, said the Portmore leg of the toll road will be open on July 13.
WANTS PM TO INTERVENE
In the meantime, the PCAC chairman said the Portmore group wants Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to intervene.
Mayor of Portmore, George Lee, revealed that Mr. Patterson had stated that funds for the road rehabilitation had already been identified.
Mr. Lee said he, too, has tried to get a new date from Minister Pickersgill for the meeting, but was also unsuccessful.
The Portmore Mayor told The Gleaner that he hoped to see the roads fixed ahead of the hurricane season which starts June 1.
He is particularly concerned about Mandela Highway, sections of which were inundated after heavy rains last year.
"What I want to see is some action ... " emphasised Mr. Lee.
