MILE GULLY, Manchester — Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western Mikael Phillips has renewed his call for bauxite and alumina company Jamalco to construct a haul road near here and stop its trucks from using the Mile Gully main road.

“I think the patience of the residents and the operators in the Mile Gully area, including public passenger operators and other road users, is growing thin. It is growing thin for me too, so we hope that Jamalco, as they have promised for 2025, will start some work on the haul road,” Phillips said on Thursday.

“Otherwise, it is not going to be easy for them to operate within the area. I am not threatening them, but it is due time that they come off the main road. I am not going to be the one to ask the resident to not show their stress on Jamalco,” added Phillips who is also the Opposition spokesman on transport and mining.

His comments follow concerns by residents that trucks are hauling bauxite on the main road from Mile Gully to St Jago in Clarendon.

He said a suggestion for a haul road has been in discussion for the years.

“They [Jamalco] have made a promise that there will be some road maintenance on the main road, but at the same time we are encouraging them to fast-track the haulage road that they have been promising us for the last four years. It is beyond me why it is that after four years we are still waiting on them to even conclude the agreements between themselves and the Government and landowners to be able to start that haul road,” he said.

Phillip’s comments follow a reported protest by residents and taxi operators in Mile Gully for Jamalco to address their concerns.

“We have seen demonstrations across the parish of Manchester of late. There was a threat of a demonstration in my own constituency in the Mile Gully area [again]. Taxi drivers are complaining about the road surface and the operations of Jamalco with their trucks on the roadway heading into Mile Gully,” he said.

On Thursday, workmen from a trucking company contracted by Jamalco were seen filling potholes with marl on the Mile Gully main road.

Phillips said he has continuously lobbied to Jamalco to address the concern.

“It is causing a problem with transport, because they have at least 15 to 20 trucks on the road running at five-minute intervals,” he explained.

“The Government has to take responsibility, because they issued the permit for [Jamalco] to use the main road and they need to put some pressure on them to complete the haul road, so that they can come off of the main road,” added Phillips as he called for more benefits for communities affected by the bauxite/alumina industry.

“To give one or two tablets and a greenhouse, yes we accept it, but we don’t want to end up like other mined out communities that are left worse off than before they got here,” said Phillips.