Mike Henry decries continued neglect of May Pen’s flooding problem
CENTRAL Clarendon Member of Parliament Mike Henry has expressed regret at the continued flooding of sections of the town of May Pen during periods of intense and extended rainfall, which was again the case earlier this week.
Henry, a Cabinet minister, in a statement, said the blame for the problem should be laid squarely at the feet of the National Works Agency (NWA) and previous Governments because the problem resulted directly from a decision not to build a proper drainage system from Sour Sop Turn in North Central Clarendon to Jack’s Gully in May Pen from back in the 1980s, “which has placed May Pen at risk and facing great hardships over the period”.
Henry said the situation was compounded in 2012 by a decision of the then Government, which cancelled the original concept to correct the drainage system leading into the town from the north, opting instead to build out the roadway from Sour Sop Turn to Chapelton – in the middle of an overall corridor that was down for development – that forced more intense drainage pressure on May Pen.
The veteran MP, in blasting the move, said “The NWA and the then Government did the greatest act of criminality against the people of May Pen.”
He said as the political representative for May Pen, he protested the Soursop Turn to Chapelton move back then with its attendant, more acute drainage problems for May Pen and continues to drive home the need for the Jack’s Gully drainage issues to be quickly addressed
In urging the relevant authorities to bring a sharp focus to the problem, he said, “I shudder to think of the welfare of the people of the town and the periodic dangers to which they are exposed, with no clear sign in the making that finally the real source of the problem is about to be directly addressed.”