By Janet Silvera, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
AN URGENT call is being made by scores of Montego Bay residents for work to start on the city's bypass road, which has been in the pipeline for the past four years. The call comes in the wake of claims by many Montegonians that the city is being held at ransom on too many occasions by protests in the Flankers community or by a build up of traffic, once it rains for more than half an hour east of Montego Bay. Just last Saturday, for at least nine hours, no one could gain access to the city of Montego Bay by the eastern thoroughfare, owing to the roadblocks and demonstrations mounted along the Flankers main road. "We need to have the bypass now, so we don't have to rely on one route," says Godfrey Dyer, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA). "The people at Flankers realise they have the upper hand, so they will always block the road when they want to be heard."
COMMERCE AND TOURISM
President of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, Winston Dear, agrees with him that work on the bypass needs to start now, more than ever. "The plans are being worked on aggressively but we need it now," he said.
For the past three years, Ambassador Frank Pringle has been sounding this same trumpet and according to him the bypass is pivotal to the growth of the western city's commerce and tourism industries. "The town's need for it becomes more and more important each day."
He says the government has been working assiduously to start work on the road, that will go through Ironshore and end at Fairfield, taking the strain off downtown MoBay, while allowing airport passengers an alternative route during emergencies.
ORIGINAL PLANS
However, the road has had several changes made to its original plans. The Malaysian engineers who have been trying to find the right gradient and the right route have encountered a series of problems since they commenced preliminary work. The Gleaner understands that the grade coming up through Ironshore is very steep and the land could fall prey to the encroachment of squatters.
Two weeks ago Project Man-ager of the National Works Agency, Wesley Blake, disclosed that work on the four-lane bypass is slated to begin during the first half of next year, once financing is arranged. Cons-truction is estimated at US$80 million. "The Malaysian government has given the commitment to provide 75 per cent of the money for the bypass project," he told The Gleaner then. In the meantime, the engineers have to take into consideration existing buildings and itinerant people still building in the vicinity of the land slated for the bypass.
