MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Amid plans to repair a collapsed road in Mollison, north-east Manchester, mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell says there needs to be clarity on when other roads will be fixed.

Addressing last Thursday’s sitting of the Manchester Municipal Corporation, Mayor Mitchell said a timeline is needed for when roads will be repaired under the Government’s Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network Programme (SPARK).

“The problem is that we don’t know when it will be done or if it will be done, so therefore it is necessary to write to the [National Works Agency], or to the SPARK secretariat, or to the minister with responsibility for SPARK [Robert Morgan] to ask if these roads which were scheduled to be done are going to be [repaired],” Mitchell said in reference to complaints by a resident of Three Chains.

Mitchell said the resident sent a letter to the Manchester Municipal Corporation regarding the deplorable road condition in Three Chains. However, he said the municipality is not in control of when the road will be repaired.

“The fact is that the citizens really need answers. We can’t just have them in the dark, saying it is going to be done. I know from our side, when we get our little money we are able to say, ‘In July it will be fixed or ‘In March it will be fixed’… but there has to be some proper guidance for the persons living in the various divisions,” added Mitchell as he indicated that the road in Mollison, which links several districts to Christiana, will be closed within the next two weeks.

“I know up in the north-eastern side of the parish — and Mollison in particular where the road has collapsed — the road will be closed next week or the following week. The Ministry [of Local Government] and the minister [Desmond McKenzie] have given the go-ahead for us to do the repairs, because the problem is that if that road is closed, people have to travel about 10 kilometres on the opposite side to get into Christiana,” said Mitchell.

“The procurement is being done… We are going to be closing the roads to vehicular traffic so that the works can be done. It is going to cost a pretty sum of money but the persons there need to get in and out of the their districts to come into Christiana to do their [business]. It is a farming community, so they need to get their [produce] into Christiana,” added Mitchell.

Pertaining to the repair of other roads, Mitchell said he would be lobbying for funding during discussions with McKenzie.

“In terms of the roads that were destroyed between hurricanes Beryl and Melissa, I don’t know what is in the budget but we will have to get some dialogue with the minister as to where we go,” said Mitchell.