Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Hanover parish councillors have expressed displeasure at not being informed about the routine road-maintenance work currently being carried out along the segment of the North Coast Highway that runs along the parish's coastline.

During the regular monthly meeting of the council on Thursday, members, including mayor of Lucea and chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Lloyd Hill, spent several minutes speculating about which organisation was undertaking the work, which began some three weeks ago.

National Solid Waste Management Authority representatives, who were present at the meeting, said they were involved in cleaning the debris from the roadways, but they did not know who was in charge of the project.

The Gleaner subsequently learnt that the National Works Agency (NWA) was in charge of the project. Approximately three months ago the Government, through the NWA, advertised in the print media for registered contractors to submit bids for undertaking routine road-maintenance work on the Negril to Montego Bay leg of the Northern Coastal Highway Improvement Project. The advertisement said work was being financed from the Routine Maintenance Component under an Inter-American Development Bank Loan.

Janelle Ricketts, communications officer for the NWA's Western Region, told The Gleaner that two contractors had won the bid for the execution of the $20-million project.

"I can't speak to why the council was not informed, but it (the project) was publicised on many of the radio stations in October," Ricketts said.