APPROXIMATELY 27 kilometres of agricultural roads used by farmers in St. Ann have been repaired under the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Sport's parochial road rehabilitation programme, funded through the European Union (UN) Stabex grant.
Eight communities -- Fort George, Douglas Castle, Essen Castle, Dunns Ville, Free Hill, New Ground, Barnstaple and Mount Mariah -- have benefited from the road rehabilitation exercise costing $91.8 million.
The rehabilitation included the installation of drainage systems and asphalting of the road surface.
Patrick Wong, technical director in the the Local Government Ministry said, as a result of the improvements, farmers in the eight communities now had easier access to their farmlands, which also meant it was now easier for them to transport their goods to the market.
$500 MILLION GRANT
The road rehabilitation exercise in St. Ann was part of the $500 million EU Stabex grant to the Ministry in 1999. Following the heavy rains of May 2002, which resulted in extensive damage to roads in six parishes -- St. Ann, St. Catherine, St. Elizabeth, St. Thomas, Clarendon and Manchester -- it was decided that the money would be used to fund the repairs of agricultural roads in the six parishes.
According to Mr. Wong more than 126 kilometres of roads in the parishes listed earlier have been repaired under the programme.
And turning to the maintenance of the roads, Mr. Wong said the respective parish councils have agreed that a citizen from the benefiting community would be responsible for the bushing and cleaning of the drains and the reporting of minor or major problems to the parish councils.
