KINGSTON, Jamaica — Several blocked roadways have been cleared to restore access to communities most seriously impacted by Hurricane Melissa, says Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development with responsibility for Works, Robert Morgan.

“In my last update, I would have told you that our main priority is providing a corridor for persons to be able to bring relief supplies, especially to the western parishes that have been severely impacted. We have been extremely successful in creating that corridor,” the minister said, during a media conference at Jamaica House on November 3.

“We now have a good corridor from the border of St Elizabeth all the way to Savanna-la-Mar, and we have a corridor from St James coming through St Ann and Trelawny, all the way to Savanna-la-Mar on the other side,” he noted.

The minister explained that this access, which was initially single-lane access, resulted in significant traffic jams and was expanded to create two-lane access.

“The challenge, however, is that we created single-lane access initially, but the quantity of vehicles almost tripled within a day, which is understandable. There are many persons who have loved ones in the region; there are persons who have recognised the disaster that took place and wanted to assist persons in the area, but that resulted in significant traffic jams, especially in areas such as the Bog Walk Gorge and sections of Westmoreland, particularly in the Ferris area,” he said.

“We then decided that we had to expand the corridor a bit to create two-lane access, and that’s something that we were able to do, to some extent, over the last two days. We also had to work hard to ensure that heavy-duty trucks such as gas trucks and oil tankers are able to traverse the entire corridor, and yesterday (November 2) we completed removing several impediments which would have prevented those heavy units from traversing the area,” he said.

He pointed out that the main corridors that have been opened, so far, are Ocho Rios to Port Antonio, Port Antonio to Morant Bay, Morant Bay to Kingston, Kingston to Agualta Vale via the Junction Road, Mandeville to Santa Cruz to Black River, Black River to Whitehouse, Whitehouse to Savanna-la-Mar, Savanna-la-Mar to Negril, Savanna-la-Mar to Montego Bay and Montego Bay to Ocho Rios.

“I would have driven that entire corridor from Kingston to Ocho Rios yesterday ending last night, and it is drivable. We also drove through the Hanover section; so, you have two sections — you have the Negril section, you have the Hanover side that goes through Long Lane, those two corridors are drivable. The one through… Grange Hill, that one is a bit challenging for heavy-duty trucks, but small units can manage it,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, he indicated that work is actively being done in other areas across the island to reopen roads. He said the work is being impacted by flooding, landslides and fallen trees.

“We are working with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS). We have worked out an arrangement where, on a daily basis, we are engaged with them in a meeting on where we are clearing, and where there are JPS poles we work together to remove those poles or relocate them,” the minister said.

“We have over 100 contractors and equipment owners and operators in this effort stretching all across the region from sections of St Ann going all the way to St Elizabeth. I’ll focus on that area because that’s the main corridor or the main area of problems, but we also have challenges in other parishes too. We have challenges in sections of Portland, St Thomas. We do have teams all across the island and NWA (National Works Agency) representatives all across the island doing work,” he noted.

Furthermore, he urged persons to only visit the impacted areas if they have a legitimate reason to be there, pointing out that their presence can negatively impact relief efforts being undertaken in western Jamaica.

— JIS