Road Repairs Being Conducted in Prospect

Repair work has started on some 2 kilometres of roadway in the Prospect community of St. Thomas.
Funds for the $9.4 million project, will come from the St. Thomas Parish Council and the Constituency Development Fund.
Secretary/Manager at the St. Thomas Parish Council, Clinton Gordon, told JIS News, that work involves the patching and asphalting of the roadway, which has been in a deplorable state for a long time.
“The Prospect community has not really had a proper roadway for some years. The road was badly eroded by several hurricanes and community members had a problem with vehicular access in some sections of the community,” he said.
He said taxis are now able to enter the community since rehabilitation work has started on the roadway.
The Secretary/Manager commended Prospect residents who participated in a preliminary clean-up exercise. Residents had cleaned the drains and bushed the roadway before the start-up of the project. He noted that without the community’s input, the Council would not have been able to undertake the project.
“In fact, we were able to do the work with the money that we have,” he said, adding that the project would have cost the Council far more money than was budgeted for the job.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gordon said the Council will shortly begin repairing drains and gullies in the Mount Lebanus, Danvers Pen and Spring Piece communities in the Trinity Ville Division. He said the main drain in Spring Piece would be paved and repaired to protect the road and several houses that were being threatened by erosion.
Additionally, he said, gabion baskets would be constructed in some areas to prevent land slippage. According to Mr. Gordon, there are plans also to convert the earth drains into concrete ones. “It’s a high cost activity but once you put in a concrete drain it becomes easier to maintain than an earthen drain,” he said. Funding for this project will come from the parochial revenue fund.