St Ann residents protest over poor road conditions, MP promises repairs

The police are clearing a roadblock mounted in Haddon along the main road between Moneague and Ocho Rios in St Ann, after residents and taxi drivers staged a second protest within a month over poor road conditions. 

Member of Parliament for South East St Ann Lisa Hanna said, however, that funds have been approved to fix the road in question and another that has been a cause for concern.  

Hanna said the road in question, at Haddon, has been approved for repairs by the National Works Agency (NWA) in the amount of $13.5 million and has been put to public tender. 

Another roadway in the constituency that residents protested about some months ago, the Lime Hall to Claremont corridor, has also been approved in the amount of $30 million and that too has been put to tender, she revealed. 

Hanna expressed surprise at the latest protest as she revealed that after the first Haddon demonstration, a meeting was held on May 12 involving her, the police and residents where they were told of plans to fix the road.  

One protester, who gave his name as Dwayne, admitted to reporters that they were told of plans to fix the roadway but expressed frustration at the delay.  

“We do a peaceful demonstration the last time and they say they get $12 million to help to fix the road and we've seen no improvement after that,” he said.  

“We tried to make contact with everyone and they say it's on the way now to fix but they can't say when yet, so we need to know when now. We don't' need to hear about next month or the other month, we want to know about it right now,” he added.  

- Carl Gilchrist 

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