#BTEditorial – $15.2 million in roadworks yet Holetown is flooded

Some questions have to be asked, and in this right-thinking, democratic and engaging governance system, answers should be forthcoming.

It was two years ago, September 2020, that the Government, in true public relations style, announced a major multi-million-dollar road rehabilitation project for Highway 1.

At the time, then Minister of Transport and Works and Water Resources, Ian Gooding-Edghill, said Phase 1 of the project, scheduled to start in the coming weeks and completed by December, would cover 6 500 metres between the Frank Walcott Roundabout to Seaview Road, St James. The price tag was $15 281 656.00.

So massive was the undertaking that the minister stated that five major companies were to be contracted.

He explained that in order to complete the rehabilitation works within the prescribed timeframe, the Ministry was engaging five contractors who have previously carried out trenching operations for utility companies. He announced that these were Ajax Construction, Arthur Construction, C.O. Williams Construction, Infra Incorporated and Jose y Jose.

It was noted that it had been over 30 years since any major rehabilitative work was done on this stretch of the highway. It was touted that at completion: “There will be the replacement of six culverts with larger ones and improvements of the drainage systems; improved sidewalks making good existing footpaths; manhole covers will be level with the road; in addition to the milling and paving of the highway.”

One of the biggest planks was a better drainage system which would “mitigate” flooding on the West Coast especially in Holetown.

While addressing the House of Assembly on July 6, 2021, Minister Gooding-Edghill told the Lower Chamber that his Ministry had undertaken flood mitigation initiatives despite having limited resources. He said the Drainage Division had cleared water courses and constructed detention and retention ponds, which resulted in significant improvement in areas where flooding is usually a problem.

In November 2021, speaking on the reopening of the Highway 1 he again reiterated that the works carried out would ease the flooding menace.

A month prior, October 2021, his Government colleague then Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Adrian Forde, declared that residents of Holetown and Trents, St James were now seeing some relief from flooding due to project: Adaptation Measures to Counter Effects of Climate Change.

“When we could have this amount of rainfall … and then have, for the first time probably, an area which was prone to flooding before, which is now seeing water being removed in its natural course to the sea, this is nothing short of amazing,” Forde said then.

Ironically, as the ministers were mouthing off in true politician style the reality for residents and businesses in the area did not line with what they had promised or hoped for.

It would appear that neither the mega roadworks project nor the beautification initiative produced the fruit the ministers were bargaining for.

Weeks after Government officials were boasting of the completion of Phase 1 of the Highway 1 road rehabilitation project, some praised the work done while others voiced their dissatisfaction with the resurfacing of the road.

The naysayers were justified since heavy rains fell and the road was not only badly flooded but there was damage done to it as well. That was in 2021, weeks after the “new” road, which was Phase 1 of the $15.2 million dollar project, was completed.

Then Minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources, Charles Griffith, along with Deputy Chief Technical Officer Philip Tudor and Deputy Chief Technical Officer, Design, Jason Bowen, fielded calls on VOB’s Down to Brass Tacks call-in programme and revealed that the five contractors involved in the project were instructed to rectify the flaws. Government gave the assurance that the work would be done at no extra cost.

Fast forward to a year later: Today, September 29, 2022. There has been rain on the island since weekend. The past few days alone the rain has been incessant especially in the west and north of the country. We now have photos and videos of severe flooding in Holetown and while some of us may want to comfort or fool ourselves into believing the footage is old, sadly it is not. The flooding not only has affected residents and businesses, but it has disrupted school at St James Primary and Frederick Smith Secondary.

Therefore, the entire saga begs the questions: Did the five contracted companies ever correct the road works as instructed by the Ministry? Has any maintenance or follow-up work been done at the start of the hurricane season in June 2022? How much will it now cost to rectify the flooding issue that both ministers boasted was fixed? Will heads roll since we were told the flooding issue was fixed, now only to realise that it wasn’t? Given our current debt-restructuring, can we afford to spend $15.2 million on roadworks that do not fix the major issue of flooding? Will the good people of St James finally get real relief from the flooding menace that has plagued them for decades? We are confident that answers will be forthcoming.