Hanover residents tired of shoddy roads
HANOVER, Jamaica — Residents of Cascade in Hanover on Monday staged a protest to call attention to poor road conditions within their community and other sections of the parish. Some roads have been in need of repair for at least 10 years, they say.
Pondside and Jericho in Hanover Eastern and Kew in Hanover Western are among the communities impacted by poor infrastructure. The peaceful protest saw residents holding placards at the intersection of the Northern Coastal Highway and the entrance to Kew.
“Each time they come and do patching and that’s it. The water comes and washes out back the patching wah dem duh,” complained protestor Marva Allen.
Taxi operator, Ernold Palmer, said it has been 14 years since the road in Cascade was worthy of being used by vehicles.
“Every year wi hear that money grant to fix Cascade to Flint River Road from here all the way through… They do a little patching but that’s it. Whenever they do a little patching wherever they mark out to patch, it finishes deh su. Dem maybe just do a one chain or a two chain and that’s it. As the rain fall, wi back to square one,” he said.
He is feeling the impact in his pockets, he added.
“We’re not disrespecting the MP [for Hanover Eastern, Dave Brown, Jamaica Labour Party] but we want him to give us some attention and know that we need some road. Because as we fix the front-end of our car, it blows. And then the examiner ah stop us and dig off wi plates and seh our front-end nuh good,” stated Palmer.
He said he and other cabbies have had to come up with creative ways to transport passengers.
“Sometimes when you’re going up the road and reach a certain point, the passengers have to come out and you go through the rougher part and then take the passenger in. That’s how bad the road is. Right now the road is full of water. It is like a pool, not even a pot-hole, it is a pool and all wi get a promises,” he griped.
Residents have also expressed concern that the state of the roads makes it challenging for emergency vehicles to access their communities.
– Anthony Lewis
