-says new concrete road at Amelia’s Ward part of a $229M project

MINISTER of Public Works, Juan Edghill, on Saturday said that, with the continued investments in Region 10, the government has done more for the region than the previous administration did during their time in office.

He made this remark at the commissioning of a new concrete road at Bamia Drive, Amelia’s Ward on Saturday, where he revealed that more of this type of road will be constructed in the region.

The commissioning of the road, according to Edghill signals loudly and clearly what Central Government is doing and gives a clear understanding of what residents of the region can expect for the future.

He noted that, in 2022, he announced that residents would see the visible signs of what the government has said will be done in the area. He said that during that year some $1.3 billion was spent in the region for road development works.

“I had indicated that what Central Government is doing for Region 10 in one year which was 2022, was twice or more than what was accomplished in the five preceding years,” Edghill said.

He said that the road that was being commissioned is not included in the $1.3 billion sum he had mentioned earlier, but is rather part of an additional $229 million that was allocated to the region through a tripartite agreement between the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the Ministry of Housing and Water for road development works.

With the intended development for the community, Minister Edghill said that the government responded based on the views that were expressed while rolling out this first phase of the project as many persons, specifically in Amelia’s Ward, were concerned about drainage issues and the durability of the roads.

He acknowledged that the community has had issues with drainage for quite some time and he indicated that the government was still pursuing solutions to prevent issues that arise as a result of the poor drainage.

One of those solutions would be moving the road construction type from asphaltic concrete roads to rigid pavement concrete which he noted is more likely to hold up to the weather conditions and water flow while the authorities seek to establish and develop a drainage network.

Meanwhile, Minister Edghill told the gathering that the government has awarded contracts for five additional roads in the region.

“There are some advantages with the concrete road; it is more durable, it could be a little bit more costly in the initial stages, but maintenance in the long run will be less as compared to the asphaltic concrete roads,” he added.

With this, the Public Works Minister noted that since the construction of concrete roads does not require many specialists, contractors look to hire persons within the communities to do the work.

He said that the Bamia Drive, Amelia’s Ward road was merely phase one and shortly engineers will return to complete a second phase and further expand the road network.