WAKEFIELD, Trelawny – Member of Parliament for Trelawny Northern Tova Hamilton has sought to reassure constituents that the more than $215-million road rehabilitation project from Deeside to Wakefield is now in the final phase of procurement, as she urges disgruntled residents not to carry out their threats of street protests.

Addressing frustrated residents of Wakefield and its environs during a hurriedly organised public meeting at the Wakefield Primary School on Sunday, the first-time MP, who lobbied for the project, noted that a contractor has already been selected and is now awaiting the greenlight from Cabinet to start the eagerly anticipated road upgrade.

“We are awaiting Cabinet’s approval. So they have already identified the contractor but that still has to go through approval processes. So the last of that approval process is Cabinet. The whole procurement now is with Cabinet,” Hamilton stated.

“I can’t give a specific date (for the start of work), but after Cabinet approves it, the ministry and National Works Agency now meet with the contractor, they do a site visit and they determine what date they begin.”

The meeting was called after the police got information that the disgruntled residents were planning street protests over the deplorable condition of the roadway.

This was revealed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Winston Milton, who is in charge of operations at the Trelawny Police Division, during the meeting on Sunday.

“The police got wind of a planned road block of Wakefield to Deeside road by residents who are frustrated that the promised rehabilitation project was yet to get underway,” said DSP Milton.

He further noted that when the police reached out to the Member of Parliament, she immediately agreed to a meeting with the residents.

Hamilton underscored that a year and a half ago after she was elected as MP, she lobbied for the rehabilitation of the 14-mile corridor stretching from Falmouth to Spring Vale. But after discovering that the project would cost roughly $800 million, which, she said, was not available, she decided to tackle the road upgrade on a phased basis.

“What I did was to appeal to the Government for additional resources. What I did initially was to ask the (National Works Agency) NWA to give me an assessment of what it would cost to fix from Falmouth to Spring Vale, the entire road, because it has been a road that has been under serious challenges for years,” Hamilton told the meeting.

“When the NWA came back to me with the bill of quantities, they came back with a figure of $790 million. We don’t have that money to fix the road at once. So, what I proposed to them was let us try to do it in phases. And they were willing to do that. Then I said to them I think the worst section is from Wakefield to Deeside, that assessment came back to $215 million. They accepted that they would allocate those resources to that section of the road.”

The pothole-riddled corridor, which has been a source of discontent for many years, has resulted in several protest actions by residents and motorists in recent years.

Last September, during a tour of roads with Hamilton in her constituency, Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Everald Warmington announced the allocation of $324 million to rehabilitate roads in the Trelawny Northern constituency, which he described as among the worst across the island.

The Government, he pointed out, could not afford the amount it would cost to rehabilitate the 14-mile corridor stretching from Falmouth to Spring Vale, but announced the allocation for the repairs of the Wakefield to Deeside roadway.

On Sunday, Hamilton stressed that she is also greatly concerned about the delay in the commencement of the road rehabilitation project.

“I know you are anxious to get the road done, but nobody is more anxious than I am,” said the Trelawny Northern MP.

In fact, she pointed out that since she has been at the helm of the constituency, she has successfully advocated for repair of a number of roads.

She told the residents that the Friendship main road is also in line for repairs soon.

“I must admit that the Friendship road is also bad. We still have an allocation that we are putting in Friendship for this financial year. The financial year starts April 1. So when April 1 comes there should be a procurement process for the Friendship road,” Hamilton stated.

“We are going to try to start in the areas where the NWC (National Water Commission) already completed their pipe laying because that also was a reason why we delayed that Friendship intervention quite a bit. We want the NWC to complete their work because we have a habit of fixing roads and then it is dug up and we really don’t want that.”

One female resident who was in attendance at the meeting said although she was expecting to hear of a date for the start of work on the Deeside to Wakefield roadway, she accepts that it has to go through the procurement procedure.

“I am disappointed but I have to accept how the process works,” the resident said.

Meanwhile, a cabbie complained that he has to frequently replace defective front end parts as a result of the deplorable road condition.