SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — The National Works Agency (NWA) last week did minor repairs to the worst sections of the Burnt Savannah/Mountainside main road bringing a small measure of relief for aggrieved residents.

A week earlier protestors blocked the road for two days using boulders and other debris. They were dramatising their frustration at the failure of the authorities to rehabilitate what is the main link between Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth’s commercial centre and the coastal tourism resort, Treasure Beach.

For many years, sections of the 17-mile stretch from Lacovia/Burnt Savannah, through Mountainside and Watchwell to Treasure Beach has been in a poor state with badly pot-holed, scoured surfaces and broken drains. Residents say the situation has seriously worsened as a result of recent rains.

As explained by Member of Parliament for South West St Elizabeth Hugh Buchanan, last week’s efforts involving grading and rolling were confined to the Knoxwood/Mountainside stretch and was not meant to have long-lasting effect.

“This was just meant to get the worst sections of the road driveable again,” said Buchanan who has been lobbying to have the road “comprehensively” rehabilitated since being elected in the December 2011 elections.

According to him, limited resources meant the NWA were forced to do “an in-house job” to get the temporary repairs done. “They couldn’t do a contract because of limited resources,” said Buchanan.

The MP said there was still no indication of when a major project to rehabilitate the roadway would be implemented but said he was exploring all options, and was optimistic.

“I am very comfortable that soon I will be able to provide positive information about this road,” he told Observer Central.

Buchanan said he expected that a rehabilitation project would have to include the stretch from Mountainside to Watchwell — sections of which are as bad as the Lacovia/Burnt Savannah to Mountainside stretch, which has drawn roadblock protests.

Two weeks ago Buchanan called for a “multi-agency” approach to the proposed road rehabilitation project pointing out that agriculture and tourism would be among the leading beneficiaries.

Late last year, Transport and Works Minister Omar Davies told a forum in Treasure Beach that while a proposed road project would be considered by him, expenditure constraints was a major hindrance.

— Garfield Myers