CLARENDON:
THE CLARENDON Parish Council has expressed outright dissatisfaction with the National Works Agency (NWA) in Clarendon for what it said is the failure of the agency to erect rails along the main road to Mineral Heights to prevent illegal entry.
The Parish Council has been pursuing the NWA relentlessly, for over two years, to erect rails along the Halse Hall main road to prevent illegal entry to the commercial lots at the Mineral Heights Housing Scheme.
With the development of commercial lots on lands located at the front of the housing scheme, adjacent to the main road, the Parish Council says that it has noticed increased incidents of motorists gaining entry to the complex by way of a curb wall on the roadside. Vehicles are also parked at unsafe spots along the road, posing a danger to unsuspecting motorists traversing that particular stretch of road, especially at nights.
The local government body noted that this practice is illegal and could not be allowed to continue, as motorists must use the entrance to the commercial complex that can be accessed from inside the housing scheme.
In recent times, lands that were left undeveloped at the front of the housing scheme have been subdivided into commercial lots and sold and the owners have built plazas, restaurants and a car wash among projects. But, a major disadvantage, which seems to be the basis of the problem, is that the entrance to these lots has to be accessed from inside the housing scheme and not from the road.
As a result, motor vehicles, of all sizes, have created their own entrances from the road, to cut out the distance they would have to travel by going through the housing scheme, to access the entrance to the complex.
Secretary Manager of the Clarendon Parish Council, Adassa Morgan, in speaking with The Gleaner, believe the NWA is dragging its feet, as the problem has been pointed out to them for some time now and nothing is being done to address the situation.
However, when the NWA Regional Office in Mandeville, Sonia Cole, was contacted, after conversing with the Parish Manager for Clarendon, she said the NWA was aware of the problem but is being hampered in its efforts by a lack of appropriate material for constructing the rails.
Mrs. Cole said the NWA is trying to source the material and will address the problem as soon as this is done. She, however, did not indicate that this will be any time soon.
