CRAWLE, Trelawny - RESIDENTS of Crawle, as well as scores of motorists who use the busy Duncans to Clarks Town main road, have given the authorities two weeks to begin work on a section of that roadway which is wriggled with potholes, due mainly to the ageing defective water mains along the corridor.
Failing to do so, they say, will result in strong protest action.
"We are giving them 14 days to begin fixing the pot holes and the many burst pipes on the road and if them don’t start it by then, we are going to block up all the road," an irate taxi operator told the Observer West earlier this week.
But last night the National Water Commission’s community relations manager for the western division, Lisa Golding, said there are plans to replace the existing pipelines along the corridor. However she could not say when the work would commence.
"We intend to replace almost two kilometres of pipeline on the Duncans to Clarks Town main road," Golding said, adding that the existing pipes have become porous.
The work will fall under the company’s Capital Project, she said, adding that the designs are currently with the engineers and a contract for the job is to be tendered soon.
Councillor for the Duncans division, Errol ‘Juppie’ White —who along with residents, took the Observer West on a tour of the area on Tuesday — said the potholes and leaky pipes have existed on the roadway for several years.
"... but it has gotten worse since last December," White said, pointing to several waterlogged holes in the rugged road surface, many of which appear to be more than ten inches in depth.
"The road is deplorable and it is really creating havoc for all the motorists who use it," he stressed. "I believe the NWC is incompetent and negligent," added the veteran councillor.
According to David Clarke, a minibus operator of Crawle, the poor road surface has resulted in severe damage to several motor vehicles.
"Water Commission (NWC) needs to fix the old pipes them. A them a cause the roads to mash up. A lot of us front end (on their vehicles) mash up because of it," he argued.
White said he has brought the matter to the attention of the NWC and the National Works Agency (NWA) on numerous occasions but noting has been done to rectify the situation.
Yesterday, community relations officer for the NWA’s western region Janel Ricketts said her agency was aware of the numerous pot holes on the roadway but added that it would not be prudent to have them patched because of the leaks.
"We are aware of the leaking pipes along the corridor but we are waiting on the NWC to make repairs to these pipes," Ricketts said.
"It is a long-standing issue and we have been in dialogue with the NWC, but we don’t know when they will carry out the repairs to the pipes," she added.
The Observer West was told that over the past five years the NWA has spent millions of dollars to repair sections of the Duncans to Clarks Town roadway.
"In fact, we did patching and micro surfacing just over a year ago on that road but soon afterwards a number of leaks developed and damaged the road again," said a NWA employee, who did not want to be named.
"The bottom line is that we can’t fix the road until the pipes are changed. It is pointless,” he emphasised. “As soon as the pipeline is repaired the road will be fixed".
A source at the NWC estimates that the leaky pipes have resulted in roughly 500 million gallons of water going to waste on a daily basis— a figure Golding has disputed.
"I don’t know right now how much water is going to waste as a result of the leaks, but I am sure it’s not that much," she said.
According to the Observer West source, the pipelines on the corridor which were laid almost four decades ago, have been collapsing in the joints, resulting in the leaks.
As a result of this, he said, communities such as Crawle, Logwood Walk and Clarks Town have suffered in many instances from low water pressure.
