Residents Of Moffat, St. Thomas Protest Poor Road Conditions | RJR News
Residents of Moffat in Western St. Thomas staged a peaceful protest on Friday morning, over what they say is years of neglect and the poor condition of the main roadway.
The residents say the poor roads in the community have forced many to walk for several kilometres to Trinityville to access public transportation, as several operators have refused to traverse the route.
A resident, Stacey-Ann Ellis Goffe, says transportation costs are crippling, especially for farmers and market vendors.
“We have to take out excessive amount of our money. Once it pass 8 o’clock, you have to have about $2,000 or more to go home. For the market vendors, which this is a farming community, they have to pay for themselves, they have to pay for their load, and sometimes they have to walk, persons have to assist them with their load because they can’t find the taxi fare,” she lamented.
“This section of the roadway has been broken away from Hurricane Dennis, that’s like 22 years ago. We, the residents had to come together and dig down this man’s property in order for vehicle to pass right here suh. Nobody has come to our help. Some private entities came and they were planning on fixing the wall here. The councillor came in and they stopped the work and said they would continue the work. To date, that is still the condition of it,” she continued.
The residents say a school in the area has been affected, and the post office closed as a result.
Meanwhile, Councillor for the Trinityville Division, Dean Jones, told Radio Jamaica News that the road is to be rehabilitated under the SPARK programme.
“The residents [are] aware that the road is with the SPARK programme. It is gone into SPARK. We had meetings with the Member of Parliament at the SPARK programme in Yallahs where we have a town hall meeting, so they are aware of it. I think the MP said there is about $30 million on that road, but it is under the SPARK programme. Now, the Member of Parliament has done a part of it, about a year ago…from the allotment that he has gotten. So I think it’s a mile of work that was done, but indeed, it is going to be done straight up to the school,” he revealed.