RESIDENTS of Penfield in Gordon Town, St Andrew, are calling for urgent attention to be given to the deplorable roads in their community which, they say, may not survive the next heavy rains.

According to the residents, the roads have been deteriorating since hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and have been made worse, over the years, by other weather systems.

On Monday, residents pointed to a break-away in a section of the road, which they say was caused by heavy water running from the nearby Jackfruit Gully during Hurricane Gilbert.

“Ah from Hurricane Gilbert the gully chop out the road and all now and it a tek time undermine, “ Merton Walker, a mechanic from the community told the Jamaica Observer.

William Jones, another mechanic, said the deplorable road condition is also affecting his business as customers do not want to travel to the community.

“And if we get some good rains there will be no road and when the gully come down it bigger than the river,” said Jones.

The residents say they were promised, by the different members of parliament for East Rural St Andrew who have served the constituency over the years, that the roads would be fixed, but this has never happened.

“One MP do three terms and him come and see the chop out there and leave it there,” Walker said.

“”It nuh matter who come, the road ah wi biggest problem and a decade a dis we have,” said resident Dwayne Nethersole.

The residents said because of the state of the road, taxi operators have refused to transport residents to the community resulting in them being forced to walk home from the Gordon Town Square.

“Most time when you deh Papine and waan reach Penfield dem sey dem nah come up here, a jus the taxi man dem whey come from here come up here, so if yuh no get one a dem taxi you affi walk,” said one teenage resident, Rolando Russell.

The residents say the election promise, made by the new MP Juliet Holness, to fix the roads in the Gordon Town area was one of the main reasons persons voted for her, and although they have not heard anything yet about fixing the road, they are hoping this promise will be kept.

Efforts to contact Holness for a comment were unsuccessful.