George Holder, Project Manager on behalf of MTWW (left) observing work at Kings Street. (Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources)

Road rehabilitation work at Kings Street, St. Andrew, continues to progress steadily despite claims that the project was abandoned.

This assurance was given by Acting Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources (MTWW), Philip Tudor, who explained that physical labour on site was temporarily paused to allow the project’s contractor to redesign a section of the original plan, to further enhance road stability.

Refuting the allegations, Mr. Tudor stressed the job was not abandoned. “When we realised the ends of the failed area were moving, we decided to stop the work, revise some of the drawings, and remove the bobcat and the roller from the work site, for about five to six days, to another job site, [at White Hill, St. Andrew]. Even though you may not have seen physical activity on site for those five to six days, work was still ongoing in the design phase of this project.”

Project Manager, George Holder, of Design Collaborative, who is working in association with Professional Engineering Services Limited, on behalf of the MTWW, emphasised that the redesign was necessary for some very important structural work to support the road edge.

“The protection work that we are doing here, [that is] the installation of gabions, protect the edge of the road, and provide drainage relief before any paving work can be done. It is a very important phase of the work that requires special engineering, and for that reason, the work was paused for a short while to relook the engineering and solve a few problems that were detected, and now we are back full force again,” Mr. Holder said.

On Tuesday, May 30, 2023, an individual posted a video to social media platforms claiming that road work at Kings Street, St. Andrew, was “put on pause,” and that the contractors “weren’t coming back.”

Subsequently, an article published in the June 4, 2023 edition of the Sunday Sun stated that some residents accused “the Chinese working on the rehabilitation of the road at Kings Street, St. Andrew,…of abandoning the road work project and leaving them in a perilous situation.”

Gabions are being constructred to help stabilize the road at Kings Street, St Andrew. (Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources)

On Tuesday, May 30, 2023, a bobcat and a roller were relocated from Kings Street to White Hill, St. Andrew, at approximately 8:30 a.m. Caution tape and cones were already in place at Kings Street, however, additional signage was installed at the location later in the day. A temporary road was also created to ensure residents would have vehicular access to their properties during the redesign phase.

When the redesign was completed and approved, construction recommenced at Kings Street, St. Andrew on Monday, June 5.  

Road work at Kings Street, St. Andrew, is being done under the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Project, which is funded by the Export-Import Bank of China. The project is executed on the ground in Barbados by the China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation Limited (COMPLANT), in association with Barbadian artisans, engineers, and construction and equipment rental companies.

Mr. Tudor pointed out the majority of the labour force at Kings Street are former gabion workers from MTWW’s National Clean-Up programme, as well as locals from the surrounding areas in St. Andrew and St. Joseph.

“Some of them would have worked on other gabion projects, such as Trio Path, and would have gained knowledge and experience, and they are working with the Chinese here at Kings Street on this project.” He added that equipment was also rented from local contractors to be used on this project and most of the other Scotland District projects.

The COMPLANT team also contracted C.O. Williams Construction Limited to conduct road rehabilitation at Shorey Village, St. Andrew, and No. 2 Vaughn’s Road, St. Joseph, which are both under the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation programme.

Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources

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