Protest halts movement through Shettlewood corridor

WESTERN BUREAU:

The movement of traffic along the thoroughfare that links parts of Hanover and Westmoreland was crippled on Monday due to a demonstration at Shettlewood over bad road conditions. Residents blocked the roadway with fallen trees, stones, drums and uncollected rubbish, impeding both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, demanding better roads and a consistent supply of water.

The protests forced the suspension of classes for the day at the Knockalva Technical High School, with reports that the vice-principal had to walk about a half-mile from her home to the school. Only four of the more than 800 students made it to the institution.

Hanover Eastern’s Member of Parliament (MP)Dave Brown apologised to his constituents and urged patience.

“I apologise to the public; the road is not in a very good condition. We are just asking them to be patient with us,” Brown said.

According to him, $28 million has been allocated for patching the roadway and work has already begun. This, he said, should provide some comfort to commuters until April of next year, when approval for the full rehabilitation is anticipated. The works are part of the Government’s $40-billion road improvement project, which aims to modernise over 2,000 roads islandwide through the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme.

“It was just last Friday that we started the rehabilitation. If you go by where the Delapenha Cemetery was to be built, you will see where the entire drain has been cleared. That is where the contract will begin. It is the worst part of the thoroughfare,” Brown explained.

“I understand the challenge, but the people have to give us some time. It is not because of a lack of representation,” he said during a Gleaner interview yesterday.

“The Government, through the SPARK Programme which comes on stream in April, will rehabilitate that entire corridor all the way back to Anchovy in St James for some $340 million.

“We are asking the motorists to be a little more patient with us. The Government has provided funding to put back the road into a driveable condition until such time. We will continue to do the patching work,” Brown said.

The second-term MP also advised residents to choose a better way to demonstrate without impacting other persons or preventing children from getting to school. He responded to the residents’ protest actions with the support of public passenger vehicle operators who operate on the Montego Bay to Savanna-la-Mar route.

“There must be another way for us to demonstrate without shutting down the entire thoroughfare,” he said.

“I don’t think we, as Jamaicans, care for each other. And while I understand the need for the demonstration, I sympathise with the people going to work, school, everyone in the emergency services, and the wider travelling public,” Brown said.

LONG-NEGLECTED

Craig Oates, the chairman of the People’s National Party for Eastern Hanover, meanwhile appealed to Prime Minister Andrew Holness to address the state of the roads.

“People are not looking for handouts, and I am going to refer directly to the prime minister, saying that not even your Clarks (shoes) that you display on every occasion that you have would ... make it on these roads. So if your Clarks are not fit for these roads, then our legs are not fit to walk on these roads,” Oates said.

He said Hanover has been long-neglected and deserves the “prosperity” promised by the Government.

“You and your government promised us prosperity, and you need to do better than what you are doing,” Oates said. “We cannot continue like this, and residents have vowed that they will peacefully protest as long as it takes.

“If you traverse this section of the road it is disgraceful. This is the highway that connects the south coast, Montego Bay to Sav, and also to St Elizabeth,” Oates told The Gleaner. He said water was also a major concern for the residents in the communities.

“These residents have been deprived of phone service, water and roads. It’s as if they have been forgotten. They are... all to themselves, and you can see the level of frustration,” he added.

Public passenger vehicle operators also criticised the state of the road.

“Some women, from them drive in the bus they can’t have any children – they have become infertile. No pickney – because of the potholes,” one bus operator said, as he demanded that the road be fixed.

Michael Gibson, a public passenger vehicle bus driver, says he is one of several new operators on the Montego Bay to Savanna-la-Mar route affected by the heavy cost of maintaining his vehicle because of the potholes.

“We need the road to be fixed, because up until yesterday I had to put in back-end bushings, and I am planning to buy four tyres tomorrow [today],” a frustrated Gibson said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com