Gordon Town residents paying high toll for trifling with nature
Published:Wednesday | December 9, 2020 | 12:14 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Saturday acknowledged that the major breakaway along the Gordon Town main road in St Andrew, which has effectively restricted movement into and out of the area to motorcycle and pedestrian traffic, is due to the accumulated effect of decades of unregulated construction of residential and commercial buildings.
Holness told journalists, following a tour of the area as well as the alternate roadway under construction at Savage Pen in the constituency, that when the original roads were being built, the authorities excavated along the contour of the hillside, taking a number of factors into consideration.
“These areas have natural springs and you will see the water coming down the hill, running across the road at some points and then going down into the river. There are drains that are built that run underneath the road and now people, having built along the sides of the road, decided that they will block the drains because they don’t want the water running through where they live. If the water can’t run freely, it will settle on the road. It will permeate through the soil and will undermine the road, and we are seeing that now as we drive along this course; we see this as a problem all over.
“They interfere with the preventative and maintenance infrastructure. For example, the drains, they block and shift them,” the prime minister lamented. “They don’t consult with the NWA (National Works Agency) and other entities such as parish councils, and the end result is that they are also inconvenienced by these activities.”
Holness then suggested that in order to stem the burgeoning, unregulated urbanisation of the area, a comprehensive development plan was needed to encourage residents to use foresight and precaution to guide their decisions as to where they eventually build and the types of material used.
“People who choose to build their homes in the river courses, right along the road side, precariously perched on hillsides; the Government’s Budget – taxes that are paid by all the people of Jamaica – it would be unfair to have those taxes diverted at every weather event, to go and repair this or put this measure in place.”
It was with a long-term view to addressing this age-old problem of unplanned, unregulated construction, as well as squatting, that the Ministry of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, headed by Pearnel Charles Jr, was created, he explained.
“We have to now start to think very carefully of how we plan our built environment; how we plan our habitat and housing. People want to find housing solutions for themselves, they want their little homes and their little piece of Jamaica, but it can’t be that you just take up yourself and go build anywhere, because, ultimately, what is going to happen is a ‘chakka-chakka’ Jamaica.”
However, when The Gleaner pressed the prime minister on whether the Government would move aggressively to halt unregulated construction and enforce no-build orders, he suggested that “deeper cultural issues” ought to be addressed, and not only enforcement.
“These were homes to free villages centuries ago, and people want to enjoy the atmosphere and do their little farming and so forth. So you have roads that are not properly designed and engineered, that are carrying the weight of 10-wheeler trucks, carrying cement and heavy steel and all types of material on them,” Holness said.
“We have to take a long-term view as to how we correct this; so yes, enforcement does play a part in it, but we have to get it into the minds of the people who would want to live here that you can’t just go and build anywhere. The solutions we explored are all quite expensive and require significant engineering.”