Is there a huge waste of money on the Leeward Highway?

Fri Feb 27, 2015

Editor: I am tending to find that questionable intelligence, to not say ignorance in its acute stages, reigns in high places in this country while common sense is walked upon. And it is as sad and disheartening as the height of ignorance was ever displayed.{{more}}

I am wondering why untold sums of money are being spent and wasted on mere and unnecessary esthetics and cosmetics of the Leeward Highway rather than the actual treatment of the road whose unsightliness, treacherousness, and destructiveness to vehicles grow with every passing day, not to mention the emotional drain on the traveling public.

Who pays for the additional wear and tear from the daily and constant use of this highway on vehicles, particularly the minibuses? Do they get any financial considersation?

Editor, the execution of this project will go down as the most impractical undertaking I have seen in my entire life in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. More vehicles will now have to be parked in the road since the shoulder of the road will now be cut off. It was reported that the project will be completed in 2016. It would have been much more cost-effective, and less time-consuming if the highway had been simply dug up and resurfaced from end to end, with attention paid to high-grade surfacing material, the widening of certain areas, and to proper drainage and gutters. Instead, the narrow roads are now further narrowed. The roads are made higher by at least six inches which must be filled up and compacted from Kingstown to Layou with tons and tons of material. At any rate, the financial expenditure on this project could surpass its budget in a wink.

Editor, I beg to be informed that this country has surplus funds, that there is a huge and vibrant economic engine in this country, that this country has no debts, that there are no other roads in this country in urgent need of rehabilitation which could have used some of this money, indeed, any other worthy projects. Or that the cosmetics and esthetics of the road could not have been done at a later date.

Duncy Head