REHABILITATION WORKS FOR BEECHER TOWN TO PARRY TOWN ROAD

Minister Robert Pickersgill on Tuesday, August 17, 2004 signed a contract for the re-habilitation of the Beecher Town to Parry Town main Road in St. Ann. The signing took place at the Royal Plantation Hotel in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

The contract is worth J$41M and the period of work is expected to be six months with work scheduled to begin at the end of the month (August). The contract has been awarded to Quality Engineering and Construction Company Ltd. out of St. Mary. The National Works Agency (NWA) will be assisted in the supervision of the construction by Consultant Wallace Evans.

Scope of Works for the project include:

• Site clearance and preparation
• Marling to base course
• Construction of 'U' and 'V' drains
• Construction of kerb and channel
• Construction of culvert pipes to improve drainage and
• Paving with asphaltic concrete

Work is also slated to be done to address the problem of flooding at the Milford and Beecher Town roads adjacent to the Anglican Church , but under a new contract.

Funding for the project is being provided by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the government - CDB will provide US$39M while the Government of Jamaica will put the remaining US$4M.

Speaking at the signing, Minister Pickersgill highlighted the fact that between November last year and February this year, $14.4M was spent on 5 packages on routine maintenance of main roads in St. Ann. For the financial year 2004/2005, contractors for all but one of the five packages have already been selected. Continuing, Minister Pickersgill noted that under the Rural/Urban Township Rehabilitation Programme $116M has been spent on roads in St. Ann's Bay and Ocho Rios over the last two years. Areas such as Gordon Tenant Drive, Edge Hill Road, Market Street, Park Avenue, Great Pond Boulevard, Sunrise Drive, Buckfield, Content Gardens and James Avenue have also been improved. Additionally, eight roads under the National Road Improvement Programme (NARIP) covering approximately 77km were fixed.

Under a special programme, another $4M will be spent on improvement works on the following roads:

• Hopewell to Golden Grove main road (completed at a cost of $2M)
• Main St. Ocho Rios (not yet started)
• Green Park to St. Ann's Bay (not yet started)
• Wharf Street (St. Ann's Bay) work in progress

Mitigation works designed to minimize the effects of flooding under a $134M programme is well underway. $2M will be spent in the Ocho Rios area cleaning the following Drains:

• Main Drain Buckfield to Jamaica Grande (completed)
• Underground Drain at intersection of Milford & Development Road (complete)
• Turtle River Park Drain
• Drain by Transport Centre (80% complete)
• Underground Drain along Main Street (awaiting the arrival of drain cleaning machine)
• Work is yet to begin on the Newlyn Street to Milford Road, Negro River and the Turtle Park Drains.