KINGSTON, Jamaica – Member of Parliament of St Catherine East Central, Alando Terrelonge, says the road dualisation project to address the traffic woes in sections of Portmore should commence by January 2024.

Terrelonge, who is also Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, made the disclosure while contributing to the State of the Constituency Debate, in the House of Representatives recently.

He told the House that last November, he met with the team at the National Works Agency (NWA) to go over the plans for the dualisation of Grange Lane from Highway 95 down to Augusta Drive in Passage Fort.

“In July we held a stakeholders’ meeting with residents and advised them of the planned developments, and we also met with the contractor to do a walk through of the area. I can say with certainty that come January 2024, we would have already commenced the expansion project as we begin to rid Portmore of its traffic woes,” Terrelonge said.

Meanwhile, he said the government committed several hundreds of millions of dollars to building a new highway coming from Mandela Highway into Portmore across the Dyke Road, with overhead bridge facilities.

“This will save my East Central family and all Portmore residents some 30 to 40 minutes in terms of time that they would usually spend in traffic,” he added.

Terrelonge said that he will continue to make representations on behalf of his constituents, in particular those who live in Portmore Pines, Silverstone and Cedar Grove, to the team at the NWA to greatly consider the expansion of the Braeton Parkway, and also to assist with funding for some of the minor roads.

He informed that infrastructural repairs began in the Hamilton Gardens and South Borough schemes, noting that work is slated to commence next year in the communities of Lime Tree Grove and Caymanas Gardens Site A and Site D.

These repairs form part of a multibillion-dollar national programme to upgrade infrastructure of some 100 housing schemes across the island that were constructed in the first 10 years of the National Housing Trust.

Terrelonge said work in Hamilton Gardens was successfully completed this summer, noting that two weeks ago when he toured the ongoing repairs in South Borough, the residents expressed their joy for the project.