Erosion of Falmouth to Rock main road to be addressed
FALMOUTH, Trelawny
The erosion of the roadway along sections of the busy Falmouth to Rock main road could be addressed soon as the National Works Agency (NWA) has put to tender contracts for the planned rehabilitation project.
Mayor of Falmouth Councillor Garth Wilkinson told the Jamaica Observer West that he was heartened by the NWA’s decision to put the much- needed work to tender.
“Over three years, other stakeholders and I have been lobbying assiduously for the repairs to that stretch of road. It has been a long and arduous task,”Mayor Wilkinson argued.
“I have been talking about the deterioration of that road for sometime now. We have been losing the thoroughfare and it also affects the cleanliness of the town.”
He added that as a result of the destruction of the reefs, the sea level has been rising in the area of Rock.
The dredging of the reefs to facilitate the construction of the $7.5 billion cruise ship pier in Falmouth has been blamed for the high levels of erosion taking place along the coastline near the development.
As far back as October, 2011, then Senator Dennis Meadows, who was at the time also the Jamaica Labour Party caretaker for North Trelawny, also cited the dredging of the reefs as the root cause for the erosion occurring along the coastline near the development.
“Since the dredging of the reefs the coastline alongHarbour and Rodney Streets has been severely eroded. In the case of Harbour Street, the road is being severely undermined rendering the road to single lane traffic,” the then government senator fumed.
“Similar shoreline walls installed for the protection of the pier should also be installed for the protection of the coastline and the town,” Meadows had argued.
At the time, then mayor of Falmouth Colin Gager, who noted that the affected roadway was being eroded even before the development of the port, conceded that the erosion of the coastline has accelerated since the reefs were dredged to facilitate the construction of the facility.
Environmentalist RoylandHaye has repeatedly warned that the development of Falmouth to accommodate mega cruise liners, could lead to widespread flooding and environmental disaster in the seaside town.
