MONTEGO BAY, St James — Acknowledging the growing frustration being caused by the delayed road repairs slated for the approximately 1.8-kilometre stretch between Friendship and Hurlock in St James, Councillor Uvel Graham (Jamaica Labour Party, Springmount Division) is pleading to motorists not to block the road.

“There is no need to block the road because at this point it is not a money issue. We have everything for the road, we are just getting prepared,” the councillor said in a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

He continued, “I just want to apologise to the residents for the late start. We have done everything as it relates to getting prepared for the construction of the road. The contract has been signed and the money is in place.”

The councillor’s plea comes against the background of messages being sent around on various social media platforms of plans afoot to block the heavily used road as a means of venting frustration at the length of time it is taking to fix the pothole-riddled thoroughfare.

This is despite an announcement made earlier in October by Member of Parliament MP for St James East Central Edmund Bartlett that a $169-million contract was signed at the Office of the Prime Minister for the rehabilitation of the corridor. Bartlett, who is also the minister of tourism, said the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) has allocated $100 million towards funding the project.

It would not be the first that the road is being blocked, as hours before the contract was signed, people living in communities along the heavily used road between Friendship and John’s Hall in this parish used debris to make the thoroughfare impassable. This led to a halt in vehicular traffic that affected several residents, including students, who had to make the trek on foot.

Residents from as far as Estuary housing development and further communities such as John’s Hall could be seen walking along the roadway as they tried to make their way into Montego Bay and other areas.

However, Councillor Graham told the Sunday Observer that the road work, which was expected to begin in the second week of November, will start “sometime next week”.

“I spoke to the contractor this morning and he said that there are some fine-tunings that are being done because the contract was viewed by the ministry. Now, it has gone over to the National Works Agency for the final viewing before they can start sometime next week,” Graham explained.

“I cannot give a specific date, but he said sometime next week. However, in the first phase of the construction, we have a lot of concrete work to do like [the building of] drains and kerb walls. But he assured us that he is going to give us smooth paving, so we won’t have any potholes for the Christmas season,” the councillor added.

While requesting that motorists bear with the road conditions a little longer, Graham told the Sunday Observer that the Government would have wanted to begin the repairs as soon as the contracts were signed. However, he maintained that it was not possible for that to happen.

“We as public servants would want the road to be started immediately and we have relayed that to the communities, but at the same time, it doesn’t happen like that. There is a procedure that everything has to go through. So although we promised an early start, it had to go through all the [relevant] authorities,” the councillor said.

“I know the dust and the potholes [are] causing problems, but we have waited a long time, so a couple more days won’t kill us,” he added.

A taxi operator, who did not want to be named, told the Sunday Observer that he knew that the promise made to have a better road for Christmas was not feasible. However, he pointed out, motorists traversing that thoroughfare are playing the waiting game to see if improvements will be made before the end of this year.

“From the get-go, it wouldn’t have been finished for Christmas; however, all we can do is just watch because all the promises have been broken,” he said.

He bemoaned that the current road condition causes a severe dust nuisance for everybody travelling along the Friendship main road. The taxi operator noted that it has been costly for both private and public motorists as their visits to the mechanic have increased.

These conditions, he pointed out, have been fuelling a plan by motorists and residents to block the road in the coming week.

“Everybody is complaining because the road is costing us. Some vehicular parts that would last for six months are now barely lasting for a month… sometimes they can’t even last a full month. I changed two struts on my bus a month ago and dem gone already,” he complained.

Another taxi operator told the Sunday Observer that he has heard of plans to block the road once more, as residents are “annoyed” by a construction zone sign which was placed along the main road. According to the man, they believe that they have been “tricked” as no start date is included on the poster.

“The trick is that they didn’t put any start date on the sign. The sign only says ‘construction to begin’, so it could be next month or next year. I guess they just put up something to silence the people. But we are just fed up and annoyed,” he told the Sunday Observer.

The taxi operator shared that he, too, is playing the waiting game.

“To be honest, I am not even building up any expectations. When I see it, I will believe it. I have been around for three years, so it is at a point right now where I have to see it to believe it,” he said.

“However, I wouldn’t have wanted them to fix it for Christmas because that means they would have rushed the work. They should just take their time and do it properly,” the taxi operator continued.