A view of the Chalky River at Nine Miles, Bull Bay, with silt almost touching the base of the bridge. Residents blocked several sections of the St. Thomas to Kingston main road yesterday demanding the desilting of the Bull Park and Chalky rivers. Residents fear that the looming tropical depression could result in flooding of the community. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE NATIONAL Works Agency (NWA) is scheduled to begin the removal of silt from the Bull Park River in eastern St. Andrew today.
The agency will carry out the work with the assistance of the Caribbean Cement Company, which met yesterday with representatives of the Bull Bay Citizens Association and promised to assist with the river cleaning exercise. The meeting was held after residents mounted several roadblocks along the St. Thomas to Kingston main road, causing a huge traffic pile-up yesterday morning.
"We had agreed to assist the NWA in cleaning the area of the river south of Bull Park," said Cordia Constable, corporate secretary at Caribbean Cement Company. She said the residents were fearful that the looming tropical depression could cause their homes to be flooded again.
Petra-Keane Williams, spokesperson for the NWA, stressed that the agency had cleaned the Bull Park and Chalky rivers since August/September this year, only for huge amounts of silt to return. She pointed to the long term solution of arresting land slippage in the hills.
