Built for a lifetime
Carib Cement touts durability of concrete roads as it donates two more in St Andrew East Rural communities
Residents of Bobo Hill and taylor Land in the st Andrew east Rural constituency now have access to new concrete roads which some are grateful to have while others are already pointing out faults.
According to one elderly female resident in Taylor Land, who was pleased that the road, measuring approximately 800 square metres, was officially opened on Thursday, “usually when it rain, it dig up dig up all over and muddy. Water in the middle and all over. You have to be skipping. I appreciate this”.
Her friend, who was standing beside her, nodded in agreement.
But while some residents were happy, one man, who claimed he had been observing the construction of the road in Taylor Land, said he was not convinced it will last very long. He claimed also to have experience in construction.
“Alright, come back next year and check out the state of the road that time. They should raise it higher. When these heavy-duty trucks drive up and down on it, what you think going to happen? If you walk along it, you will see seh it start crack already,” he said.
However, Andre Nelson, industrial and building solutions manager of Carib Cement, the company which constructed the roads, touted concrete surfaces as one of the best solutions to peopling having access to good roads across Jamaica. He emphasised that white concrete roads provide proper lighting for citizens at nights, which could reduce the need for expensive lighting fixtures.
“I always go for the white looking solution. The reality is that it doesn’t cost much more than doing asphalt. If there is no light on the road, the asphalt sections are going to be looking dark, but on that section it is bright so you don’t need too much lighting. We build something to last a lifetime and I know persons are going come out and play football and ride bicycle but remember, this is a roadway to take you from point a to be. Please, everybody, use the road safely,” he appealed.
“Some people are going to say that it is not an easy thing to do because there are pipes under the road and there may be other utilities under the road, but the reality is that when you do a concrete solution you get the opportunity to be more uniformed. Pipes and other utilities can go to the side of the road and then you would know where they are if you need to fix a leak. This concrete solution is going to be here 40 to 60 years and possibly a lifetime,” Nelson added
St Andrew East Rural Member of Parliament Juliet Holness welcomed the donation from Carib Cement and said that people heading to church, who have to use that stretch of road, will no longer complain that they have to be wiping mud from their footwear.
“It was just a dirt track. When people going to church, they have to take off their shoes, walk barefoot go down the bottom, wipe it off and then I put on back the church shoes when they reach back the asphalt road. They said, ‘Pastor said to tell Mrs Holness that we are grateful to Cement Company’ because they didn’t dream it was possible,” Holness said.
Yago Castro, managing director of Carib Cement, said that despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, Carib Cement remains a friend to communities and highlighted that the company has spent more than $8 million to pave in excess of 1,400 square metres of concrete pavement in communities in the constituency.
“Concrete roads are amazing, and people from the communities can learn how to do it and also contribute to this great development,” Castro said.