PENNANTS, Clarendon – Predictably, with a parliamentary election in the air, there were politically partisan jibes and lively banter.

However, party politics was only an aside as residents of Pennants in northern Clarendon turned out last Thursday to hear from their leaders about a $700-million project to build a new bridge in their community.

When completed, the 67-metre, two-lane reinforced concrete bridge at Kupuis, Pennants will span the Rio Minho, one of Jamaica’s longest rivers which runs north to south across Clarendon. It will be at the meeting point of Northern Clarendon , represented by the People’s National Party’s (PNP’s) Horace Dalley, and Clarendon North Central, the constituency of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) Pearnel Charles.

The new bridge will replace a 100-year-old, single-lane steel structure which is now visibly corroded and, according to experts, increasingly vulnerable, especially because of truck loads as heavy as 45 tonnes.

The project, which is slated for completion in 15 months, is to be executed by construction giant China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC). It is part of the US$353-million Major Infrastructure Development Programme mostly financed by a loan from the China Ex-Im Bank with support from the Jamaican Government.

After a photo-opportunity inspection of the old bridge, speakers, including Dalley, Charles and state minister in the Works Minister, Richard Azan, told residents that the project was an essential element in the drive for a modern roadway linking Clarendon’s capital May Pen through rugged central Jamaica to Discovery Bay on the north coast. When completed, the “highway” would transform lives, residents heard.

To ensure success of the bridge project, there would have to be full “co-operation” in every respect, including across the political divide, residents were told.

“Too many things we quarrel about; we need to drop some,” declared Charles, who had entertaining, good-natured exchanges with PNP supporters, including some clad in their party’s distinctive orange.

Dalley, who is also minister of health, underlined the “co-operation” theme. “You can’t succeed at anything unless people co-operate, so the most important part of the completion of this work is to have the communities co-operating with the work men. Taxi drivers have to co-operate, schoolers have to co-operate, bus drivers have to co-operate and even those looking work have to co-operate,” he said.

Speakers emphasised that workers from Pennants and neighbouring communities would be interfacing with their Chinese counterparts and would learn much from their guests, both in terms of progressive working habits as well as skills.

“The Chinese working culture is different from Jamaica,” said Dalley. “While Jamaicans work very hard when they go abroad ­— sometimes from one job in the snow to another job — when they are here, sometimes they joke it out. The Chinese workers work non-stop because they have a different work culture… while a Jamaican man or woman might want to take three hours for lunch, a Chinese worker will take half-hour for lunch and back at work. That’s their culture,” he said.

Azan urged the residents to “protect” their Chinese guests, even as they endeavour to learn from them.

“The Chinese are our friends; make sure you and them are friends,” he said. “Some of you will learn new skills — no matter how you say you are a steel man or a concrete man, you will learn from them. Let us give them 100 per cent support”.

The residents were reminded that there would have to be good order and were assured that first preference for jobs would go to locals.

“This bridge is going to be built under strict discipline,” said Charles. “No bad man, neither Labourite nor PNP, goin come here to mash it up,” he added.

“We are going to work together to make sure discipline is maintained, and we are not going to accommodate any outsider to come here and take the work from the people,” said Charles.

Dalley said local employment would be spread equally across the two constituencies without political victimisation, and as close as possible to the work site to avoid the cost and inconvenience of lengthy travel. “We want to be able to find all the skills between North Central and Northern Clarendon, and as close as possible between Crooked River, Pennants and surrounding areas, as close as possible to the work site so they don’t have to take whole heap of bus,” he said.

Residents were told that those who had not yet applied for their TRN and NIS cards should do so, since those without would not be eligible for employment. Similarly, workers would need to have an NCB account since they would be paid through the bank as part of security measures.

Those at the community meeting, held at Prayerline Church of God, heard that the bridge project fitted into a comprehensive plan.

“The long-term plan of the Government is to have a suitable corridor from May Pen all the way to Discovery Bay, a north-south link across the middle of the country,” Stephen Shaw, communications manager at the National Works Agency, later told the Jamaica Observer.

The wider project, which incorporates the bridge, started with major rehabilitation of a stretch of road from Sour Sop Turn, north of May Pen, to Chapelton further north. That project started in September 2014 and is to be completed this year.

“We are now out to tender for the stretch from Chapelton (through Pennants) to Trout Hall. Then we are taking it from Trout Hall down to St Ann. That is the plan, so the bridge is part and parcel of that overall plan to really have a more reliable corridor traversing all of these communities between Clarendon and St Ann, from the south to the north,” said Shaw.