Work to Commence soon on Round Hill Road in St. Elizabeth

Repair work is to commence soon on the Round Hill road in South West St. Elizabeth, which links the community with Munro, Pedro Cross and Treasure Beach.
State Minister for Housing, Transport, Water and Works, Richard Azan gave this assurance during a recent tour of the area.
“I am asking the residents to bear with us. Last year we signed the contract for the rehabilitation of this road; it is just that we have to do it in two phases. Already, we have the estimates for the repair.this work will begin very shortly,” he said.
Mr. Azan informed that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has taken an active interest in the project.”The Prime Minister has instructed that attention should be given to this road. We will also be looking at a number of parish council roads as well as housing scheme roads as per instructions from Mrs. Simpson Miller,” he added.
Communications Manager at the National Works Agency (NWA), Stephen Shaw gave some technical details about the project.
“We are going to look at drainage as well as bushing, resurfacing and cleaning of drains, because the roadway is on a hill and so the topography does not allow for easy drainage, because of the amount of rocks,” he said.
Mr. Shaw pointed out that the work would begin on the side nearest to Treasure Beach, because of the need that was evident in the area. “In another three weeks, our contractors should be starting the drains on that side and having now in our possession the technical documents. We have already identified where the various items such as culverts need to be placed, so all in all things are very much underway,” he said. Farmer and businessman, Denzil Rowe told JIS News that while Hurricane Ivan had done quite a bit of damage to the road in 2004, it was the passage of Hurricane Emily that had “driven the nail in the coffin”.
“After Ivan, the National Works Agency did restore most of the road but once Emily arrived, everything that was done was literally washed away,” he said.