NWA Goes After Motorist to Fix Barnett Bridge

The National Works Agency (NWA) is looking to claim on the insurance of a motorist to fund repairs to the Barnett Bridge in Montego Bay.

The move is in keeping with a mandate from the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, for the agency to intensify its efforts to file claims on the insurance policies of drivers of vehicles, who damaged road furniture.

“The National Works Agency has now been mandated…to step up its activities to claim on the insurance of the drivers of these motor vehicles. Recently, the matter was raised at Cabinet because we want to ensure that we have the full support of all concerned,” said Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Audrey Sewell, at a press conference in Trelawny last month.

Speaking to journalists at the St. James Parish Council on Monday, March 30, NWA Communications Manager, Stephen Shaw, informed that the Barnett Bridge, which spans the Montego River, was damaged by a motorcar in January, which knocked out the rails on a section of the structure.

“We are actually trying to gather some information with a view to making a claim on the insurance on that particular motorist and the police have been forthcoming … and we intend to use that (settlement) because it will have to be replaced at a significant cost to the Government,” Mr. Shaw said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shaw informed that repairs will be undertaken on the Howard Cooke Boulevard Bridge in Montego Bay.

“We recognise that some stripping has taken place and we intend to take out those bases. We actually have them (in store) in Montego Bay now,” he said.

Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Glendon Harris, in his remarks at the press conference, called on all well-thinking citizens to report to the St. James Parish Council, the NWA or the police, any accident or act of vandalism causing damage to signs or road furniture in and around the city.