Continuous protest by some residents of St. Thomas is now impacting the efforts by contractors to improve the road conditions in the parish. Since yesterday, residents have mounted roadblocks in the Leith Hall and Amity Hall communities over the state of the road. The corridor between Morant Bay and Prospect is currently being rehabilitated as part of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP).
Manager, Communications and Customer Services at the National Works Agency (NWA), Stephen Shaw says that while there are some merits in persons being unhappy with aspects of the works, deliberate actions are being taken to significantly improve the situation.
He says that some nine kilometers of road between Morant Bay and Prospect is being rehabilitated. To date, just over one kilometer has been paved. Another one point three kilometers has been prepared and ready to be paved, however, the continued protest action is preventing the work.
Mr. Shaw says though the police have been present along the corridor, threats and intimidation have continued to be meted out to the workers on the site. The contractor has therefore been forced to halt its plans for further improvement works.
In preparation for the increased activities, additional machinery and labour had been dispatched along the corridor. Mr. Shaw says that these additional resources have been left idle since Monday. He is expressing the hope that the team will be allowed to continue the effort at improving the condition of the road between Morant Bay and Prospect. The NWA intends to have some critical milestones accomplished along this stretch, by the end of October. These include connecting most of the households to the new waterlines and completing paving activities up to Browns Gully from the direction of Dumfries.
In the meantime, Mr. Shaw explains that work is slated to be undertaken along the Amity Hall and Leith Hall roadways as part of Tranche Three of the SCHIP. The over 100 kilometers stretch from Harbour View, St. Andrew to Port Antonio, Portland has been divided into three phases, with two now underway.
