Westmoreland farmers delighted with road rehabilitation
FARMERS IN eastern Westmoreland have expressed delight with the commencement of the rehabilitation of the Marchmont to Retrieve main road.
According to John Brown, a farmer from the area, the last 25 years he has been bearing the cost of transportation to deliver his produce to customers on a weekly basis as a result of the deplorable condition of the road network.
“It’s impossible. If you don’t have a four-wheel-drive vehicle you can’t get anywhere,” Brown said of the Marchmont to Retrieve corridor.
He shared that for many years he had to absorb the transportation cost in order not to increase the cost to his customers.
For shopkeeper Zena Jones, getting the road fixed is important because it’s the main thoroughfare connecting Montego Bay in the south and Westmoreland in the east.
“I am feeling good because for many years nothing has come through here. Not even goods truck because of the condition of the road,” Jones said, in a Gleaner interview on Tuesday.
She said motorists travelling from Montego Bay had to divert into Shortwood through Catadupa, then into Marchmont and/or Retrieve.
On Tuesday, Everald Warmington, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, broke ground for the project covering 3.8 kilometres of roadway, valued at $75 million, to rehabilitate the corridor from Marchmont to Retrieve.
The scope of work includes the clearing of landslides, patching, drain improvement, construction of retaining walls, the reshaping and resurfacing of the corridor. Construction firm Maurice Hill Limited is doing the work, under the supervision of the National Works Agency.
The project, which got on the way late December, is expected to be completed by March 31.
Warmington said this project signals the first major investment in the rural eastern Westmoreland constituency since Daniel Lawrence was elected member of parliament (MP) in 2020.
DISGRACEFUL
“The photograph that I saw of this road was extremely disgraceful,” Warmington told reporters.
He noted that the project is a breath of fresh air for the many farmers, commuters and motorists.
At the same time, Warmington has expressed disappointment for the condition in which former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has left that section of the constituency.
“I’m a little disappointed that you had a former prime minister and member of parliament who served so long and the condition in which I saw this road it is atrocious,” Warmington said.
Patterson served as the MP for the constituency of Westmoreland South Eastern from 1970 to 1980, before losing to Euphemia Williams of the Jamaica Labour Party. He was again elected as MP from 1989 to 1993.
He also served following a constituency reorganisation, as the MP for Westmoreland Eastern, from 1993 to 2006, after which he retired from Parliament.