Road Repairs Carried Out in South West St. Elizabeth

Approximately seven kilometres of roadway in Slipe, South West Elizabeth have been repaired by the National Works Agency (NWA) at a cost of about $40 million.
Speaking with JIS News during a tour of damaged roadways and farm roads in the area on November 14, Minister of Agriculture and Member of Parliament, Dr. Christopher Tufton, said that the work carried out included the lifting of the roadway to allow water to run in the appropriate curbs and channels. “The residents are very happy for it. It has transformed their lives and the quality of their lives,” he stated.
Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry, who was also part of the touring party, said that the “visit is to follow up and …check on the status and the quality of work done …and to make sure of what gaps I need to fill, in relation to the technical aspects of it.”
“It is important that I keep looking to see what we need to upgrade and re-examine anything we may have done wrong in the urge maybe, to facilitate the citizens,” the Minister added.
He informed that the Ministry will also be launching a product called Pave-Zyme, “which has been lying fallow in the Ministry of Transport and Works for about eight years and which will reduce the cost of road repairs”.
Pave-Zyme is an enzyme-based organic and environmentally-friendly formula that bonds soil and increases compaction. It makes roads impervious to water and increases load bearing capacity, while reducing the amount of aggregate and other material needed to construct the road.
Meanwhile, Dr. Tufton informed that work will begin shortly on the construction of a post office for the community and that he has been in dialogue with the CHASE Fund, to establish a basic school at the community centre.
The touring party also examined shoreline recession and the construction of a boardwalk in Black River; the extent of damaged road surfaces in Cotterwood, Greenfield, Round Hill and Hounslow; and road work underway in Prospect in the Parish.