Minister promises much-needed repairs to be undertaken next financial year

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources Santia Bradshaw is assuring the people of St Thomas that in the upcoming financial year attention will be given to roads that are severely in need of repair.

Following Member of Parliament for St Thomas Cynthia Forde’s appeal in Parliament on Monday for better roads for the parish which has several major tourist attractions, Bradshaw indicated that in the upcoming year infrastructural works are scheduled to be done under the CAF [Development Bank of Latin America] Road Rehabilitation Programme and will be given necessary priority.

“This is the road from Shop Hill to Content, the area from Cane Garden to Bridgefield, the Canewood to Proute Junction and Hangman Hill in St Thomas as well. Now I want to make the point that in terms of the cost of these roads, it is quite significant. It is over one million dollars in most cases.

“In some it is $1.3, $1.5 million and therefore it paints a picture of obviously the condition of the roads given the level of expenditure that would now have to be laid out on the roads. The truth of the matter is that as the heavy rains come, St Thomas, like a number of the other parishes in the countryside, is impacted even with all the best intentions from the depots. I think we will have to make these areas a priority,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Noting that the recent heavy showers have been adding to the deterioration of the roads, Forde said, during her contribution to the Appropriation Bill, 2022-Head 81 in the House of Assembly on Monday, that the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration that served the country from 2008 to 2018 did not do justice to the road infrastructure in St Thomas.

“I want to find out what can be done for the people of St Thomas, and I am not a person who focuses on myself at all. But there is so much dissatisfaction, so much criticism, cursing, insulting. I have never carried insults like these yet in my young age.

“I really am very concerned that the roads in St Thomas have been neglected for so long under an administration from 2008. When I spoke to the minister [of Transport and Works] then who was the honourable member for Christ Church South, and the men were on the road to pave that road running from Edghill through by BRC, up through Shop Hill, the equipment and everything was there, and the minister called to say ‘don’t touch that road for she though because she had 14 years to do it’,” Forde said.

The long standing Member of Parliament said she does not believe in politicians attempting to spite constituents because they remain faithful to a party.

In fact, Forde said while the north of the island continues to be plagued with water and road work issues, she is happy that her BLP administration has sought to inject the funds to help constituents in rural Barbados access better road infrastructure.

“But I am focusing on St Thomas because I am the voice for the people after 20 years and I am hurting to know that we have reached the stage where this morning, yesterday, Saturday, all kinds of calls coming in, letters are coming in again because the rain has now taken away all the patching material and so on. Water is running on the road and we have a serious problem in the parish.

“I drive there every day, sometimes four times a day. And so Mr Chairman, I would like to know what plans the Ministry of Transport and Works have for St Thomas so that I can at least bring an element of ease. There is too much expense with vehicles that are being destroyed. You can’t get to nowhere in the parish that has about eight to ten places of interest where people come on a daily basis,” Forde said.

Forde extended gratitude to the depot team stationed in St Thomas for their efforts to keep the roads usable.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Technical Officer in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources Philip Tudor explained that major road works had not been carried out in St Thomas because of the unavailability of funds.

However, in addition to the upcoming road works planned for that parish, the drainage system will also be improved to accommodate the expected increase in rainfall due to climate change. Tudor said plans are also on the cards to include additional footpaths for students who have to traverse those roads.

“I have been there for 35 years and I have never seen this kind of money being spent as we are seeing now and I am grateful for that because as I have said before we have been stretching the money we have been getting and you don’t know where to start, which road to start on. We are happy now that funds are finally being made accessible to do the major repairs throughout the island,” Tudor said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb