John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter

Controversy has developed over a decision to change the origina of the Bushy Park to Ocho Rios segment of Highway 2000 by the developers of the tolled highway.

Pearnel Charles, the Opposition Spokesman on Works, has called for "an urgent meeting with Bouygues Travaux Publics, the developer of the highway, to discuss the decision to realign segment 2A - which runs from Bushy Park, St. Catherine to Ocho Rios, St. Ann - to incorporate sections of the existing Linstead bypass.

"What we want is a road that will initiate development and at the same time will give people a safe place to drive. Going through the (Bog Walk) gorge and going through Ewarton doesn't make any sense to me," Mr. Charles said.

High traffic volume

Last Thursday, at a public forum, Kingsley Thomas, the conceptualiser of Highway 2000, said the origina of the highway was changed to take advantage of the high volume of traffic which goes through Bog Walk and Linstead.

Mr. Thomas, who resigned as chairman of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) effective February 19, disclosed that the four-lane highway will now run from Bushy Park, to the west of Angels Estate, go over the hills west of the Bog Walk gorge, and join the roundabout at Bog Walk. He said it will continue along the Linstead bypass which will be upgraded to four lanes (no toll) to Treadways where it will go around Mount Rosser through the mined-out bauxite lands to the west of Moneague (town) to join the Moneague to Golden Grove main road and then go on to Ocho Rios.

But Mr. Charles told The Gleaner yesterday that "the first presentation (origina made much more sense to me than what they are trying to do (now)."

Mr. Thomas admitted that he, too, was not in agreement with the change in th of phase 2A of the highway when a representative of the Worthy Park sugar estate located in Lluidas Vale, St. Catherine, expressed concern about the change at the public forum.

The origina would have taken the development deeper into the farming areas of St. Catherine, closer to Worthy Park.

"They are doing all of that in order to extract money from the motorists rather than seeking additional development and put in a proper highway," argued Mr. Charles. "You have got to look 25 years down the line and that is no development for 25 years ahead of us."

john.myers@gleanerjm.com