Utilities urged to improve infrastructure

inister of Agriculture Indar Weir has called on utility companies to ensure their poles and lines are properly installed across Barbados, citing concerns over the highly active hurricane season.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY before Tuesday’s brief session of the House of Assembly, he expressed worry about the state of utility lines in his St Philip South constituency, even before Hurricane Beryl’s impact.

“I am particularly concerned with fallen utility lines, particularly those from telephone service providers,” Weir said. “I think this is something that has to be addressed seriously in Barbados. First of all, the lines are very tacky, they are not put up properly, they are loose and all over the place, so that yesterday when I traversed the constituency, we had, in Ocean City, lines all down and right across the constituency.”

He added: “I think they ought to do better, and were they doing better in the first place, it would not have been the way it was yesterday.”

Weir noted that his constituency did not suffer as much damage as others along the southern and western coastlines. However, he emphasised that the poor state of utility lines throughout his district remained a major concern.

Farming escaped unscathed from Monday’s hurricane, according to the agriculture minister. But he reported that some farmers were still without power and, more crucially, water, despite the lack of a direct hit from the hurricane.

“I have been receiving some reports this morning that some poultry farmers are without water,” Weir said, appealing to the Barbados Water Authority for assistance and urging them to “send some tankers to those people”.

Weir also highlighted the importance of preparedness on the part of the farmers.

“I’ve tried to impress on these smaller farmers the importance of having storage tanks, but, of course, if you are keeping over 8 000 birds and you have storage tanks, you are not going to have enough water. You will run out at some point, and that is what is happening,” he said.