Enfield Main Road in St. Mary Rehabilitated

More than 7,000 residents of Enfield and adjoining areas in St. Mary now have improved access to their communities, following the completion of rehabilitation works on the main road linking those districts.

The eight-kilometre Enfield main road, which serves other communities, such as May River and Sue River, and had deteriorated significantly over time, was resurfaced and drainage and other supporting infrastructure constructed at a cost of $92 million.

Funded by the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, the three-month project was implemented by the National Works Agency (NWA), and executed by contractor, Dwight’s Construction Limited.

The road was officially re-opened by State Minister for Transport, Works and Housing, Hon. Richard Azan, during a ceremony on July 17.

Mr. Azan commended the contractor “for doing a wonderful job” and appealed to the residents to assist in maintaining the roadway.

“The road belongs to you and we expect you to help us to maintain this road. I ask members of the community that, as part of your contribution, we go back to the days where communities spend time to maintain some of our roads. And, I ask that you try to form some community groups (through which) you can help in this regard,” he urged.

Mr. Azan also discouraged speeding along the road, in light of the many persons who use the thoroughfare.

“This road serves about seven big communities with six schools, and a number of churches. My appeal is that those who have to use (this) road, will use it with care,” the State Minister implored.

Meanwhile, the NWA’s Chief Executive Officer, E.G. Hunter, described the project’s completion as the fulfillment of a commitment made.

“Many months ago we came here, we saw a situation, and we made a promise, and I am very happy today to say that we kept our promise…to carry out a comprehensive rehabilitation of the road,” he said.

Member of Parliament for South East St. Mary, where the communities are located, Dr. Winston Green, said the newly rehabilitated road will significantly benefit the persons who use it.

He pointed out that persons will now be able to reach their destination in a shorter time, and thanked the Ministry and the NWA for the work done.

Several residents, who spoke with JIS News, welcomed the repairs and expressed satisfaction with the quality of the work.

Flavius Laidley of Enfield said prior to the repairs, travelling along the corridor from Annotto Bay took as much as one hour for what would normally be a 10 to 15-minute journey.

Another Enfield resident, Jemaar McCaulsky, said he felt “very good” that the road has finally been repaired. He pointed out that previously, “no one wanted to come to Enfield,” because of the inconvenience caused by the poor road condition.

“So, like how the road has been fixed, many people will want to come up here, because up here is a nice place. It will do the communities a lot of good, because more businesses can start up, so that more people can get jobs,” he said.

Anthony Gutzmore of Juno Pen, also in Enfield, said the citizens of that district are “extremely pleased” that rehabilitation of the road has been completed, noting that “for too long, we were in a situation of it being almost impassable.”

He pointed out that the repairs have contributed to improvement in the relationship between the Police and citizens.

“The police claimed that it used to take them hours to come up here because of the bad road.  Now that the road has been repaired, they have been coming up here very frequently. As a matter of fact, the community and the police are now sharing a very good relationship and we are very pleased with that. The only thing we need to do is to ensure there is continuous maintenance of the road,” Mr. Gutzmore said.