Residents of Castle Bruce blocked traffic for over 5 hours on the East Coast Road in protest over construction delays and damage. The protesters expressed frustrated with the slow progress of renovation work and the increased dilapidation caused by construction activities. Led by Kelvin Cadette, the protesters said the unmotor-able road is causing damage to vehicles and may not be completed in record time.
The road is not motor-able and at this point, things are hard for everyone, especially the vehicle owners. The road also has a lot of dust which is causing a lot of people to get sick.
Kelvin Cadette, Leader of Protesters
Cadette lamented the slow rate at which the road rehabilitation is being done. He said the work ought to take 18 months and be completed by October, but there is little proof that the contractor can complete the project by this time-line. The protest leader blamed Sotradom, the contractor, of diverting resources that should be expended for the project to other construction projects in the Kalinago Territory.
What’s causing this is the lack of attention. They’re more focused on other areas like the Kalinago Territory. They’re stretching their resources thin, using the same dump truckers, the same rollers, the one grader, they are removing it from our segment and sending it to the Kalinago segment and ignoring us in the process.
Kelvin Cadette, Leader of Protesters
A representative for Sotradom assured the Castle Bruce protesters that they will witness a facelift on the road by Thursday and that the company will expedite work to make the road motorable again. Education Minister Octavia Alfred, who is the parliamentary representative for the constituency, assured residents that she will apply pressure on the contractor to complete the road in record time.
Cadette said he believed Honourable Alfred and the company representative, adding that protesters will return for more extensive road blockage if there is no significant road improvement on Thursday.
The road network connects Castle Bruce and Bois Diable and then to Hatton Garden. The project is being undertaken at the cost of $127 million as part of the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project by the Ministry of Environment. It is a Project Implementation Unit undertaking that is supported by the Climate Resilient Execution Agency (CREAD).
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