By Garwin Davis, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
ROAD REPAIRS and the laying of water pipes which were started ahead of last week's by-election in St. Ann North East have stalled.
In the run-up to the election, work on most of the main roads throughout the constituency, especially in the resort town of Ocho Rios, was being carried out at a feverish pace with the crew, at times, working into the early hours of the morning.
The road contract, said to value $40 million, was for the repair of roads in Ocho Rios, Exchange, Lime Hall and Mile End.
But after the by-election, which saw Shahine Robinson of the JLP winning a close race over Councillor Carrol Jackson of the PNP, her nearest rival, work has not yet resumed.
Yesterday, Audley Shaw, a deputy leader of the JLP, repeated his charge made prior to the polls that the infrastructure work in the constituency was politically linked. "As I have said throughout the campaign, the road works that was taking place within the constituency was linked directly to the by-election," Mr. Shaw said.
He said that while he expected the work on the Ocho Rios main road to be completed, he wasn't sure about work in the rest of the constituency. "I am not so optimistic about the roads in the remote areas," he emphasised. "That could have been a ploy to get out the vote for the PNP in those areas."
Mrs. Robinson, the newly-elected MP, agreed. According to her, not only did it appear that the work has been abandoned but pipes that were dropped in the Warrick Mount area on the eve of last Thursday's by-election have been retrieved by the National Water Commission. "There is a lot of vulgarity currently taking place," Mrs. Robinson said.
"The poor people of Warrick Mount were fooled into believing they were getting water. Now we are told that the NWC went up there and took back the pipes they had dropped to be laid. I don't know if they are expecting us to finish what they started but this sort of behaviour is nothing short of tragic."
But Patrick Fletcher, the NWC's regional general manager, explained that the wrong pipes were dropped in the area and that his agency had no intention of abandoning the project. He added that the residents of Warrick Mount, who have never had piped water, had become a little restless when they didn't see the local operator turn up and felt that the project was being abandoned.
The work should be completed in another week or so, he said. "The people did not fully understand what we are doing so they got a little excited. We are running 700 lengths of pipes at certain strategic points and we have to do it properly."
He declined to say how much the project was costing but insisted that it was not politically linked. "We had this project earmarked before the by-election was announced," he said.
Calls by The Gleaner to the Ministry of Transport and Works regarding the road work were directed to Glenford Henry of Pavement and Structures Ltd., the contractors. However, he was said to be on the road for the rest of the day.
Last week, Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of Transport and Works, rejected charges that road works being carried out in the area had any bearing on the by-election.
Eva Myers, former St. Ann Chamber of Commerce president, said she was hoping that work which had started on the streets would be completed and not abandoned now that the election was over.
"I would like to believe that the road works was in no way linked to the election, so I am expecting the authorities to finish what they started," she said.
