MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western Mikael Phillips on Monday insisted that State agencies and the municipal corporation need to intervene to compel a quarry operator to repair the Somerset road.

His comments follow a fiery protest Monday morning by residents and taxi operators over the condition of the road which connects several communities in Manchester North Western to Mandeville. They claim that the road has deteriorated over the years due to overloaded trucks spilling concrete mix and weakening the surface.

“Myself and the councillors have made numerous reports to various agencies over a number of years. My last being to NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency). The operators of the quarry have to take some responsibility for the state of the roadway, mainly the build-up of concrete from its batching plant and the use of the roadway by heavy-duty equipment and trucks coming to and from the quarry,” Phillips said in an audio release on Monday.

“The roadway was never built for the everyday use of trucks laden with material and they are now leaving it up to the taxpayers and the residents to repair the roadway and to suffer the inconvenience of them making them profits,” he added.

Efforts to get a response from the quarry company were unsuccessful up to press time on Monday.

Phillips said the thoroughfare is a parochial road and is crucial for commuting across his constituency.

“I am seeking the intervention of the municipal corporation which the road belongs to, the Ministry of Mining, NEPA, and all the other stakeholders to intervene in this matter,” he said.

“It cannot be that the taxpayers of the constituency of north west Manchester, residents of Somerset, Pimento Hill are the ones who are left to suffer, including the taxi operators [and] owners of vehicles who traverse that roadway on a daily basis,” he added.

Frustrated taxi operators told journalists that they want the authorities to swiftly intervene in having the road repaired.

“The Government is supposed to do something about the quarry and trucks that are messing up the roads, because the Government gives the quarry the licence to run down there…We need some justice to be done to the road. The [concrete] mix and the material that they are overloading the trucks with messing up the road,” said one of the operators.

“We need the road to fix, because the road mash up,” another chimed in.

They claimed some trucks are also illegally dumping garbage on the roadside.

“It unfair for the trucks to be running us off the road, and when they do come here with garbage dem throw it deh suh then go load up,” a taxi operator said, adding that the trucks spill the concrete mix on the road, after which a backhoe is used to “dig it up and then the dust is unbearable”.

Fire burns amid debris used to block Somerset road in Manchester on Monday. (Photos: Kasey Williams)

A section of the Somerset road pockmarked with potholes.

Debris used to block Somerset road in Manchester on Monday.

Taxi operators express frustration at the state of Somerset road as they speak to journalists on Monday during a protest.

PHILLIPS… myself and the councillors have made numerous reports to various agencies over a number of years