Bad farm roads hamper production

PNP's Noel Arscott.

Joel Williams of the JLP.

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Monday | August 13, 2007

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

The South Western Clarendon constituency consists of four parish council divisions. They are Toll Gate, York Town, Milk River and Race Course.

Toll Gate has 17 polling divisions, York Town has 20, Milk River has 19 and the Race Course division has 25, for a grand total of 81 divisions.

All except one division is represented by the People's National Party (PNP) at the Clarendon Parish Council. The lone Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-represented division is Toll Gate, which is represented by Joel Williams, who is the party's candidate in the August 27 general election.

The major communities in the constituency are Lionel Town, Four Paths, Osborne Store and Toll Gate.

When the polls open on August 27, the 19,586 voters who are currently on the voters' list will have the choice of electing Joel Williams of the JLP, or Noel Arscott of the PNP.

Whichever of the two men comes out victorious on election night, such an individual will have no honeymoon period, as there is much work cut out for him to do as far as representation in Gordon House is concerned.

Main Issues

The new MP has to be someone serious, who is prepared to work hard to deal with job creation, poor road conditions, poor health care, poor water supply and inadequate housing, which are the main issues of these constituents.

Dawn Myrie told The Gleaner she has been living in South Western Clarendon for over 20 years. She expressed disappointment that the condition of roads had not received the necessary attention to make the lives of residents more comfortable.

"The roads here are in a deplorable state. Except forthe main road off the Bustamante Highway, absolutely every road in the constituency is in a bad way. The arterial roads are in a terrible state and we need that to be addressed by whoever is the next MP. The farmers are suffering badly," said Myrie.

She named the Spring Plain to Milk River, Lionel Town to Milk River, Darlow, Rock, Mount Airy, Cannon and King Streets in Lionel Town, Comfort and Folly as some of the worst roads in the constituency, and added that these areas depended on farming for a livelihood.

According to Myrie, residents, and especially farmers, have been having a hard time getting their produce out of the communities for market, as the state of the roads has become a turn-off to transport operators.

Residents have also stated that they want their new MP to be serious about the repair of all farm roads in the constituency, because several young people are desirous of getting into agriculture to provide them with employment.

In relation to job creation, persons, especially young people, said avenues must be created to have the high unemployment rate which currently exists, reduced.

They want some mega projects to be implemented in the constituency, to create serious employment.

They want the powers that be to stop talking about what can happen at Vernham Field in the parish, with job creation, to move from that stage and go into implementation, as they are of the view that there is huge potential there for the creation of jobs.

They are also calling for the Milk River Bath to be developed and made more attractive to visitors.

Many are of the view the area is ready for health tourism.

Health centres

As for health care, constituents want their new MP to make the right representation in having the number of health centres increased.

There are currently three such facilities in the constituency and persons are of the view they are under-developed.

The Milk River, York Town and Race Course/Toll Gate Health Centres, according to many persons, are inadequate todeal with primary health care.

Housing is a major problem for several persons in the constituency. Many with whom The Gleaner spoke pointed out they are disappointed that few persons who have benefited from the construction of houses.

Everton Bailey, a coconut vendor, told The Gleaner he has been living in the constituency for over seven years and has been trying to acquire a house without success.

"Plenty land is here that used to be used for the planting of sugar cane. Many of them have been out of use for several years and are idle," said Bailey. "What the new MP needs to do when he comes in, is to lobby Government and the NHT to get some transformed into housing schemes, so that we can get somewhere to live. Houses are short and hard to find," he added.

Residents also want the problem of poor water supply to be corrected. Areas such as Mocho, Darlow, Mount Airy, Folly, Stewarton and Rock, among other places in the constituency, have been hard hit by water woes over the years.