By Latrishka Thomas
An eyesore and an accident waiting to happen. That is how residents are describing the manholes sticking up on busy highways amid ongoing road repairs.
Nigel Francis Jnr, civil engineer in the Ministry of Works, sought to address public concerns by indicating that the issue will be rectified with a second layer of asphalt to be laid on Old Parham Road, Sir Sydney Walling Highway and Valley Road.
But specifically in relation to Old Parham Rd, he said, “The contractor would have indicated that starting the first week of December that their intent is to start from Dees [gas station] and move from Dees to Government House with the second layer of asphalt.
“Now that in itself would rectify some of the issues in terms of the ones that are protruding out of the first layer currently.”
Francis Jnr further explained that road works are being carried out in stages to limit the impact on residents and businesses.
“The reason why they moved forward with putting down the first layer only is so that they would reduce the impact on stakeholders, given that Old Parham Road in particular you had a lot of businesses and people trying to get to these businesses,” he said.
He added, “If they were going to do both layers at the same time then that would have caused a further delay, so they opted to do the first layer so they can cover more ground and reduce the impact and then come back and do the second layer.”
According to the engineer, the second layer of asphalt should be laid on Old Parham Road in early December and motorists “will not be impacted for any prolonged period of time while the second layer is being installed”.
He however could not provide a timeline for the other two highways.