WHITEHALL, Westmoreland — “You hear the teachers talk about liveable wages? We want a ‘liveable’ condition with roads, light and water. That is all we want in Westmoreland. It is a sad situation to have these roads all these years never been fixed,” an obviously frustrated Lilly Williams told the Jamaica Observer.

She lives in Whitehall, Westmoreland, one of the developments scattered across the country that were left incomplete after Operation Pride imploded.

Some of the infrastructure promised when the project was being touted as the best thing since sliced bread — potable water, electricity, drainage and roads — is still sub-par. The shabby roads, Williams said, are not confined to Whitehall but plague the entire parish of Westmoreland.

“People have to be living in these conditions. Those are all tracks, they are not roads. We have so much problems, no roads,” she said on Wednesday as she thanked the minister with responsibility for works, Everald Warmington, who promised to have the roads fixed.

The Whitehall Road is among several in the Westmoreland Western constituency that are slated to be repaired by Government. Also up for attention is St Paul’s Road which leads to a project earmarked for tourism development. It is estimated that work will cost $290 million and Warmington is hoping funds will be released this year.

Member of Parliament Morland Wilson (Jamaica Labour Party) has welcomed the commitment given by Warmington.

“St Paul’s Road services anywhere from St Paul’s itself, Spring Field, Chetro, coming right back to the famous Royal Palms Reserve, which is one that the prime minister [Andrew Holness] recently mentioned that he would be looking at to rehabilitate and reopen as a tourist attraction,” he said.

“So, that in itself is a catalyst for the work that the Government is doing in and around this space and in Negril,” the MP added during the tour.

According to Warmington, he was in the constituency to satisfy himself that the requested road work was warranted.

“I have to be very careful with taxpayers’ money. I am not putting it in here because the MP wants it there. There must be justified reasons [such as] the number of residents in the area and whether or not there is any productivity that can assist us with making that expenditure; and I am convinced of that,” he said.

He added that the Glasgow to Grange Hill road is the next big project.

“That one needs it badly,” said the minister.

MP Wilson agreed.

“It has always been on the top of the list to be repaired based on the number of hotel workers that work in Grand Palladium [in Hanover] and other hotels who have to traverse each day, based on the number of persons living in the area and commercial activities that take place along that strip, and of course the number of persons who live in Grange Hill and its environs,” explained Wilson.

Other areas slated to get urgent attention include Grange Hill to Little London, Moreland Hill, Little Bay and Salmon Point as well as the Top Road drainage system.

Wilson, who has been lobbying for various roads to be repaired since he took office in 2020, was elated that action has finally been taken. He said some of the roads have been neglected for more than 30 years.

“I am pleased to see the efforts put out by the minister and the Government in hearing the cries of the people,” stated the first-term MP.