Call made for nationwide road repair programme

by Lyf Compton

Vincentians care about roads.

So much so, many residents of one area in Lowmans Windward in the constituency of South Central Windward are said to have voted for the New Democratic Party (NDP) because the Unity Labour Party (ULP) government has not done any roadwork there for over 20 years.

Residents of Lowmans Windward say that the potion of concrete road is in need of guard rails, as if a pedestrian were to fall over the side the road, the impact will most likely be fatal.

On Monday, one resident drew to SEARCHLIGHT’s attention, a concrete road leading to a dirt road, the dirt part in dire need of repair.

The resident said the concrete road was built under the NDP administration over 20 years ago and despite the cry of residents, the dirt road, which begins where the concrete ends, remains in a bad state and is a challenge to residents when rain falls.

He said that a few weeks ago, residents dug their own gutter in an attempt to bring some order to the flow of rainwater in the area.

The resident noted also that the concrete portion of the road is in need of guard rails as if a pedestrian were to fall over the side the road, the impact will most likely be fatal.

“Plenty man up here does drink rum and walk home drunk and I surprise nobody never tumble over dey, even small children,” the resident said.

A female resident said she voted for the NDP’s Israel Bruce because of his promise to fix the road. She said Bruce went into the area, took photos of the road, and promised to fix it, while the ULP’s Saboto Caesar does not come into the area.

“People down here vote for Bruce,” the women said, while pointing to an NDP sticker on her house, “Caesar don’t come down here.”

During the November 5, 2020 general elections, Caesar beat Bruce 2339 votes to 2100 in South Central Windward. Caesar had a margin of 239, compared to 2015 when he beat his opponent by 588 votes.

Meanwhile in Marriaqua, a long winding step that leads to several houses in the Glenside area was also built under the NDP when Bernard Wyllie was the area representative more than 25 years ago.

One woman said the NDP built the steps and they are happy that it has stood the test of time, but they would like for there to be maintenance work on it and that has not come under the ULP.

“We vote for Bernard again because was under he we got these steps,” the woman said.

In the last general elections, Wyllie got 2088 votes in the Marriaqua constituency, which was not enough to take the seat from St Clair “Jimmy” Prince of the ULP, who netted 2441 votes, for a margin of 353. In 2015, Prince won the seat by a margin of 756 votes. Wyllie returned to politics after a 22-year absence.

Meanwhile, road works are ongoing in the Gibson Corner area of West Kingstown, where residents have been complaining for over 20 years. During the 2020 general elections campaign, the ULP’s Deborah Charles visited the area and promised to look into the state of the road.

The general elections however saw Charles being defeated by the NDP’s Daniel Cummings who received 2488 votes, some 708 more than Charles.

A post on social media site Facebook about the road being fixed in Gibson Corner, resulted in several Facebook users posting photos of bad roads in their neighbourhoods, calling on government to implement an island wide road repair programme.