EMANCIPATION Day is fasting approaching and plans are advanced for Sligoville’s annual festival, dubbed Emancifest, in tribute to its status as Jamaica’s first free village.

But there isn’t much to celebrate, some residents say, for the community has a long way to go in terms of capital development. Sure, the majority of the roads are in good condition and there is piped water and electricity. There is even a police station, a post office, a health centre and multi-purpose stadium. But those are basics, the residents contend, and add nothing special befitting of its status.

“I don’t think it has achieved much as the first free village,” says one woman.

“Sligoville was the first free village and I think it should be a tourist attraction like Port Royal,” another one adds.

Neither of them were born in the hilltop town, but one who has lived there nearly 20 years, pointed to the lack of signs declaring the community as the first free village, the dilapidation of the Highgate Park great house, and the neglected state of Witter Park from where slaves used to fetch water.

“For a community of such historic value, it’s very boring. There is nothing; no entertainment, no tourist activity, nothing. We should have a museum or something,” she says.

In Commodore, the needs are centred on human development.

“The first thing we want to see happen is for the young people to get something to do,” a shop owner says. “We have a big training centre there empty for years. I have a tree at my gate and sometimes when I look, all 15 young men under there…”

The community’s road infrastructure is also in bad shape.

“Commodore is a mess,” adds a woman, who comes to buy at the shop. “The road is a disgrace. It’s a river when it rains.”

The road problems are not unlike several other communities in the St Catherine East Central constituency. Bower’s Wood, Top Jackson, Palm Hill, Sligoville, Harker’s Hall, Lauriston, and Above Rocks are some examples.

“I don’t think the Government on a whole pay any attention to Sligoville. If you going to talk about the stadium, you shouldn’t because it wasn’t built by the Government. This (road in Jackson that links Bog Walk with Sligoville and Spanish Town) is a major road. It can lead to anywhere in Jamaica and it’s a shame and disgrace,” Deleta Walters says.

“The road itself in Bottom Jackson not so bad, it just overgrown, but Top Jackson to Cedar’s and Kensington is very bad,” adds Walters’ neighbour, Marjorie Thompson. “Traffic divert from Flat Bridge all the while so it’s a major road and they should maintain it.”

The women add that transportation dedicated for school students is also needed in the area because regular taxis are expensive and often unreliable.

In Palm Hill, residents are on their way to getting electricity through the Rural Electrification Programme, but it is still without a consistent supply of water.

“We’re a bit concerned. We have a water problem here. We have potable water but we don’t get it everyday. Maybe every Friday or every other week, and even then, some people don’t get it in their pipes,” complains Steve Hanson.

“The area is being developed, but slowly,” says one man, who gives name only as Mr Chang, of his Above Rocks community. “Some people have lands that they not using, but don’t want to sell. Those with say 20 acres should sell 15 and keep five so that poor people can live.”

For Richard Williams, who has lived in the community for 13 years, the proof of the progress is in transportation.

“Is half an hour to Kingston now because we have JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transportation Company) and Coaster buses and taxis. Thirteen years ago you would have to wait long to get something like a market truck to Constant Spring. All we need now is employment,” he says.

“We have frequent power cuts too, but it’s a nice place to live. Nobody trouble anybody here,” adds Chang.

Frequent power cuts are nothing new to residents of Harker’s Hall.

“Every two hours light go away and sometimes all two days before it come back,” one man says. “It damaging we appliances.”

“We don’t have any road either and if dem don’t fix it before school start we plan to stage a major protest,” one woman warns.

In Lauriston, just outside the centre of Spanish Town, residents rue poor road conditions and the lack of social infrastructure, such as a community centre and playfield. More than those though, they lament that the authorities have not done anything to prevent the river from continuing to eat away at the land behind their houses.

“A lot of people live on the river bank and a lot of them have already lost their houses and the land is still being eaten away. They need to do something about it,” one man says.

Major concerns in Angels Grove and Angels Estate, also on the outskirts of Spanish Town, have to do with the natural environment and aesthetics.

“The environment is not being cared for,” one man says.

“They need to develop the areas outside (the scheme),” another adds.