The A1 road project has been having its ups and downs and will definitely cost more for the project.
In a Supplementary Appropriation (No. 4/2011) Act, 2012) the Ministry of Finance received approval in the last Legislative Assembly this week, to find and spend $2,800,000.00 towards “Ghaut Replacement Project” obviously with regard to the extent of construction in time and material to reconstruct Cassava Ghaut and the Nantes River bridge.
The travelling public has been observing and commenting that the operations and the reconstruction of the bridge particularly the completed bridge give the impression, “they do not know what they are doing.” The reaction from officials was that they do know what they are doing and everything was going to plan. But later there was the explanation that the run into the ghaut from the overwhelming number rocks, did force some readjustments in plans.
The Cassava ghaut reconstruction of the bridge seems to be now complete and so the reconstruction has begun at the Nantes river to the chagrin of the sand miners and truck drivers, who may have finally solved their languishing desire for a jetty at Isles Bay, which according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would have far more negative impact than the two minuscule positive impacts, not even in the short but long run.
Meanwhile as preparations for the long overdue overlay of the roads was about to begin firstly on the Brades road the Public Works Department (PWD) had to take a decision to delay reconstruction and overlay works on the main road from Cudjoe Head down to Manjack junction. Winston ‘Kafu’ Cabey former ZJB news reporter now acts as the spokesperson for the road project. He told ZJB news according to a news broadcast from the radio station, “the Manjack Road that was designated to be one way going southwards from the north, we had a problem where the school bus drivers said that they can’t cross the salt spring ghaut because of the longitudinal over hang…” resulting in a PWD they decision not just to do a temporary fix to the problems there in the ghaut, “but to do something more permanent that is going to result in that road coming into salt spring being closed for three or four days while the works there are done,” he added.
On top the woes with the road project, the Nixon’s area poses its own kind of problems. “…sad to say there no areas identified in terms of putting laybys in the Nixon’s area that never closes. So the only thing that folks really came up with was that whenever there is something special or the school busses have to go through there they’ll have police escort.”
The signal lights at Cassava ghaut had ceased to function as they are not needed any more. The reconstruction there has come to an end waiting for the overlay to commence.
