NWA outlines road repairs in Hanover, Westmoreland following protests

  HANOVER, Jamaica — The National Works Agency (NWA) says several roads in Hanover and Westmoreland, some of which were blocked by residents on Monday in protest of deteriorating conditions, are either being fixed or slated for repairs. “For the Western Region, we have a patching programme that targets several roadways across the western section of the island. In that section, we have some more work that we intend to do. But basically, we would have been overtime patching sections of roadways,” stated the NWA's Community Relations Officer for the Western Region, Janel Ricketts. On Monday, residents blocked the Chester Castle bridge, Forest, and Haughton Grove main roads in Hanover, which also impacted Westmoreland. Member of Parliament for Hanover Eastern Andrea Purkiss said what she witnessed was pure frustration from people tired of bad roads. She noted that the poor road conditions have led to limited public transportation services because motorists are unwilling to traverse the routes. Ricketts outlined several scheduled and pending interventions designed to alleviate the infrastructure strain when contacted. The Shettlewood (Hanover) to Mackfield (Westmoreland) corridor project, valued at approximately $15 million, is currently at the procurement stage and will target severely affected segments between the two areas. Another initiative is the Graded Overlay (GO) Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, which aims to patch roadways impacted by Hurricane Melissa. According to Ricketts, several roads have already been repaired, and work will continue on other critical corridors. “In Westmoreland, we are about to complete patching, under the GO programme on sections of the Lambs River to Seaford Town, Seaford Town to Marchmont and the Marchmont to Retrieve corridors. The programme will target sections of the worst affected roadways,” stated Ricketts. The third initiative is the SPARK (Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network) Main Road Project. Ricketts said Hanover commuters will benefit from major capital allocations under this scheme. “We have a SPARK main road project that will take in the section leading from Montego Bay all the way to Negril. Approximately $400 million has been earmarked to execute this comprehensive rehabilitation in phases,” stated Ricketts. — Anthony Lewis