Repairs slated for St Elizabeth roads

Jamaica's de facto works minister, Everald Warmington, says deteriorated roadways, breakaways and defective bridges in sections of St Elizabeth North Eastern and North Western are to be repaired in short order.

Warmington gave the assurance following a tour of the constituencies last week. He was accompanied by representatives of the National Works Agency (NWA), members of parliament Delroy Slowley (St Elizabeth North Eastern), J.C. Hutchinson (St Elizabeth North Western) and Franklyn Witter (St Elizabeth South Eastern).

The minister said that the damaged infrastructure has inconvenienced residents in several communities, and his ministry will move to address the situation urgently.

"What we saw first was the road collapse at Raheem [to Siloah main road]. I understand that an estimate has been done, and I intend to give instructions immediately to begin procurement and repairs, because it is a danger to the travelling public," Warmington said.

He added that the Windsor Bridge is in need of repair.

"It is deteriorating ... so I am going to ask the technical services division to start right away to do an estimate to replace that bridge. Plus, you have the river that overflows its bank each time [there is heavy rains] ... and the reason for that is because you have some little curvature along the way towards the bridge," Warmington said.

He instructed the team from the NWA in the parish to conduct river-training exercise in the area to prevent flooding during heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the minister said that a breakaway in the community of Woolwich, and the roadway from Aberdeen to Hope Road, which is badly scoured, will also receive immediate attention.

Warmingtonadded that both the old and main bridges in Lacovia will be improved, as they pose risks to the motoring public. He said that as soon as the estimates for the repairs are completed by the technical team, funding will be made available in the new financial year for the renovations.