ST JAMES, Jamaica — A broken water main that has caused issues on a section of the Coral Gardens main road should not be a challenge for the hosting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Heads of Government meeting, set to start on Sunday, and end on Tuesday, July 8.

On Saturday, there will be a 5K run as part of those activities.

That’s the expectation from mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, who spoke to Observer Online following a visit to the site on Friday morning.

“The critical part of the conference on Sunday, which includes the opening, should not be impacted significantly by what has happened,” he said.

“I was told that the pipe would be fixed within 24 hours, which means that by tomorrow morning the work will be completed, so by that time traffic will be able to pass there again,” he said.

The main, which broke some time during Thursday night, saw copious amounts of water flooding the roadway and nearby properties on the Coral Gardens main road.

The volume of the water created a large hole in the road which led to the  police instructing motorists to use one leg of the dual carriage way to make their way in that area.

This has led to massive traffic pile-ups in some cases.

However, while the mayor has said the repairs would take a short time, the surface would still need some time to be fixed.

“Of course, you’ll have the uneven road surface because they have to leave it as is until they are comfortable that the work is successful before they go back to paving the surface,” he said.

“Transportation remains as planned however it may take a slower time to reach from arrival to destination,” he said.

Jamaica is the host of the 49 Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. It will take place under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Holness.

“The critical part of the conference really commences on Sunday but the 5K Run which happens tomorrow may or may not be affected,” he said.