Road repair starts in South Trelawny, residents elated

WESTERN BUREAU:

Three of the four road breakaways between Stettin and Wait-A-Bit in South Trelawny are currently being rehabilitated under the Government’s multimillion-dollar SPARK programme.

According to Janel Ricketts, the community relations officer for the western arm of the National Works Agency (NWA), the work includes resurfacing and rebuilding of the affected roads.

“The work is part of Government’s $442 million SPARK Programme, (and) includes resurfacing, rebuilding and drainage to the roadway,” Ricketts told The Gleaner about the project, which is expected to bring much relief to road-users in the predominantly farming area.

According to Ricketts, to minimise the disruption to the motoring public, a bypass road is being created between Stettin and Wire Fence.

Requires

extensive work

“This is being necessitated because one of the breakaways requires extensive work. It requires the blocking of the main between Stettin and Wait-A-Bit,” said Ricketts.

The rehabilitation work is welcomed by residents as according to Albert Town businessman Ken Grant, the repair to the road is long overdue as it has been hampering free movement between that section of Trelawny and neighbouring Manchester.

“The repair cannot come too soon. Every time when I approach these breakaways, I think ‘what if?’ It is always scary, so I welcome the repairs before any further breakaways, which could result in the loss of lives,” said Grant.

Yam farmer Winston Smith is also elated noting that persons will now have one less thing to worry about.

He says that a source of potential danger to yam farmers, who use that roadway on a regular basis to get their produce out of the area, has now been removed.

“From I was a little boy they have been promising to get the two miles from Stettin to Penn Road fixed. The repairs to the breakaways have forced the NWA to make the bypass a reality,” said Smith. “With this new road, yam farmers are now happy. They can now take their crops to where exporters can drive close to their farms. They can transport yam sticks much easier. It is like a dream come true.”

Brandon Sterling, a resident of Lowe River, who has been seriously inconvenienced by the state of the road, says he is now relieved, having seen that the rehabilitation of the road has finally started.

“I travel the route fairly often and I saw the road getting worse each day. Thank God the repairs are now taking place,” he told The Gleaner.

Businessman Paul Patmore, the People’s National Party (PNP) caretaker for South Trelawny, who had promised residents that addressing the road repairs would get priority if he were elected as member of parliament, says he is happy to see the road being fixed,

“ The repair is welcomed. It will give me the opportunity to focus on another project when I become the MP,” said Patmore, who is challenging incumbent MP, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Marisa Dalrymple-Phillibert.