Dear Editor,
I have written several letters pertaining to the deplorable state of Agriculture Road. I was delighted to see this road is now under repairs about a week ago, but the road works I see here are not being properly done, it’s very poor and sloppy road works. First, I have noticed that they have graded the road up to NAREI. I also note with interest that they are throwing in some crushed brick or loom into these big pot holes; that is not the way to do this job.
First, they need to cut these holes deep and dig out all the moisture underneath and all the slush in the holes and allow it to dry before they put in any brick and cover it with bitumen. They are just throwing some bricks into these holes to cover them and now they will throw bitumen or asphalt. One can clearly see this road has tons of holes on the edges and the edges are broken; they did nothing on the holes at the edges, thus these sloppy repairs they are doing will not last a month, because very heavy trucks, hymacs, container trucks traverse this road daily. This road needs to be redone in a durable and competent manner and engineers should determine the weight of the vehicles that can run on it. I need to know who has the contract for Agriculture Road? What does the contract entails? How far will this road be built? What materials ought to be used for this road repairs and reconstruction? And who is the engineer overseeing this meaningless and sloppy work we will soon read in the press cost millions of dollars to rehabilitate.
This job I see currently on this road is very slow and lackadaisical; and now I am told that they will not reach NAREI and halfway the road where all the bigger and deeper potholes are. From the time I see them working they ought to pass NAREI by now and reach stock-farm at the back, but they are just dragging their feet on this deplorable, incomplete and incompetent job they are doing. I am now calling on Minister Patterson to send an engineer into Agriculture Road to stop this work until a proper contract is drafted for a more durable road.
The minister also needs to determine the types of vehicles this road can accommodate by weight. It’s obvious that the road repairs I see here are more suitable for bicycles and not these huge trucks and heavy-duty vehicles I see here on this road daily. In my view, and those of residents and those administrators at NAREI, this sloppy road work in progress in Agriculture Road must be arrested now by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, or we will have a road this contractor will be paid millions to complete that will not last a month. I see many roads built here and destroyed in less than a month; that is exactly what I see will happen here in Agriculture Road. If they are going to build this road, it must be done properly with proper road materials and it must be tested by a proper engineer before taxpayers’ money is paid to this incompetent contractor. I am calling on the relevant authorities to stop this road works here now until proper work can be done before this contractor is paid.
Regards
Rev. Gideon Cecil