More roads repaired in St James
WESTERN BUREAU — The Ministry of Local Government on Thursday handed over seven kilometres of rehabilitated parochial roads to the St James Parish Council as part of its road improvement programme.
The roads were refurbished at a cost of $3 million under the Parish Infrastructure Development Programme (PIDP), Patrick Wong, the ministry’s technical director told the Observer.
Work on the roads began in July last year and was completed in December.
Wong said that during the rehabilitation work, special attention was paid to the drainage details because all of them had major problems.
“They (the roads) were almost like a river, with water running down the road and we have rectified that,” Wong said, adding that during the recent flood rains the roads performed very well.
“Despite the large volume of water and debris on the roads during the heavy rains, they (the roads) showed no sign of deterioration.”
The rehabilitated roads, many of which are located in the communities of Wiltshire, Catadupa, Somerton, Spring Mount and Lottery, will be maintained by the St James Parish Council.
Meanwhile, the ministry plans to rehabilitate another seven kilometres of roads inside the parish. But it is not immediately clear how much the work will cost.
“We, however, expect to start the work before the end of this year and the bulk of it will be done in the city of Montego Bay with some in rural St James,” Wong said.