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CDF provides opportunities for rural community
Published: Tuesday | March 31, 2009
Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
Early childhood and grade-one students of the Little Bay All-Age and Infant School in Westmoreland pose with principal Heila Clayton, (left) and grade-one and infant-department teacher Thelma Robinson (right), at the school recently.
WESTERN BUREAU:
For more than three decades, residents of the coastal [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]community[/COLOR][/COLOR] of Little Bay, located at the southern end of the constituency of Western Westmoreland, felt the brunt of poor road conditions.
Today, residents are expressing delight with the recently upgraded Little Bay main road, which leads from Little Bay to the neighbouring community of Old Hope.
The 1.9 kilometres of roadway was rehabilitated through the Constituency Development Fund of Member of Parliament Dr Wykeham McNeill, to the tune of $7 million, and was completed last December.
Dwayne 'Fireman' Robe of neighbouring Old Hope, a regular user of the Little Bay road, told The Gleaner he was overjoyed and relieved.
"Mi well glad say di road fix. Only one likkle part lef, an a from di school fi go back roun' a Brighton. But the road nice, right now it nice. Before it fix a did bare pothole, deep pothole, and we used to tek half-hour fi lef from Likkle Bay come a Old Hope, so we really happy about that, and anyone who put out the money fi fix it, mi really happy about dem," he said.
When The Gleaner visited the Little Bay All-Age and Infant School, Principal Heila Clayton said the poor road conditions had caused the institution's population to dwindle.
The school has a capacity of 250 but only 135 students in attendance.
She said when she took over as principal a few years ago, there were only 52 students on roll.
"Some [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]parents[/COLOR][/COLOR] would not want to send their children to school here, as you would not have the taxis travelling on the road. We have [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]cars[/COLOR][/COLOR] coming in now. I think we will see more tourists coming through and the shopkeepers will get better sales because of this," she said.
Appreciative
"I have had incidents here where we had to have the ambulance come in and it took quite a while when the road was bad. It was very serious if you had persons who were ill and had to go to the doctor, so we are very happy," she added.
Verman 'Sticky' Johnson, operator of the Ackee [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Tree[/COLOR][/COLOR] Restaurant and Bar in the community, told The Gleaner that since the rehabilitation of the road, he has seen an increase in sales at his establishment.
"The bad road conditions affected me bad, bad, bad. I had to cook like two pounds of rice for the day because the road was bad and people were not driving their vehicle to come here. So, everybody 'fraid dem tire bus' an engine lick," Johnson said.
"It is a big turnaround because everyday I see strange cars coming in and tourist coming in same way. The schoolchildren had it hard too because they had to use the bike because there were no cars, or they would walk to Little London from here."
Another resident, Raymond Rose, who travels to and from the community on his motorbike, told The Gleaner that the poor state of the road caused him to spend a tidy sum on repairs to what was his major means of transportation.
"I had to go to the mechanic every weekend to tighten up. I had to change parts, bearings and [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]tune [COLOR=orange! important]up[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] di wheels and dem ting deh. The parts last longer now and it easier to move around," he said.
Economic opportunities
McNeill, said he was pleased the residents were happy, as the road conditions had stymied the sustainable development of the area.
"The community is a tranquil area. It is a lovely place to go for fish and is ripe for eco-tourism but the road conditions were stifling the community and the parish council would not have had enough money to deal with the road, so it was done under the fund," he said.
"Just doing that road, what you are going to find is that economic opportunities will be opened here," he added. claudia.gardner@gleanerjm.com
Published: Tuesday | March 31, 2009
Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
Early childhood and grade-one students of the Little Bay All-Age and Infant School in Westmoreland pose with principal Heila Clayton, (left) and grade-one and infant-department teacher Thelma Robinson (right), at the school recently.
WESTERN BUREAU:
For more than three decades, residents of the coastal [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]community[/COLOR][/COLOR] of Little Bay, located at the southern end of the constituency of Western Westmoreland, felt the brunt of poor road conditions.
Today, residents are expressing delight with the recently upgraded Little Bay main road, which leads from Little Bay to the neighbouring community of Old Hope.
The 1.9 kilometres of roadway was rehabilitated through the Constituency Development Fund of Member of Parliament Dr Wykeham McNeill, to the tune of $7 million, and was completed last December.
Dwayne 'Fireman' Robe of neighbouring Old Hope, a regular user of the Little Bay road, told The Gleaner he was overjoyed and relieved.
"Mi well glad say di road fix. Only one likkle part lef, an a from di school fi go back roun' a Brighton. But the road nice, right now it nice. Before it fix a did bare pothole, deep pothole, and we used to tek half-hour fi lef from Likkle Bay come a Old Hope, so we really happy about that, and anyone who put out the money fi fix it, mi really happy about dem," he said.
When The Gleaner visited the Little Bay All-Age and Infant School, Principal Heila Clayton said the poor road conditions had caused the institution's population to dwindle.
The school has a capacity of 250 but only 135 students in attendance.
She said when she took over as principal a few years ago, there were only 52 students on roll.
"Some [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]parents[/COLOR][/COLOR] would not want to send their children to school here, as you would not have the taxis travelling on the road. We have [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]cars[/COLOR][/COLOR] coming in now. I think we will see more tourists coming through and the shopkeepers will get better sales because of this," she said.
Appreciative
"I have had incidents here where we had to have the ambulance come in and it took quite a while when the road was bad. It was very serious if you had persons who were ill and had to go to the doctor, so we are very happy," she added.
Verman 'Sticky' Johnson, operator of the Ackee [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Tree[/COLOR][/COLOR] Restaurant and Bar in the community, told The Gleaner that since the rehabilitation of the road, he has seen an increase in sales at his establishment.
"The bad road conditions affected me bad, bad, bad. I had to cook like two pounds of rice for the day because the road was bad and people were not driving their vehicle to come here. So, everybody 'fraid dem tire bus' an engine lick," Johnson said.
"It is a big turnaround because everyday I see strange cars coming in and tourist coming in same way. The schoolchildren had it hard too because they had to use the bike because there were no cars, or they would walk to Little London from here."
Another resident, Raymond Rose, who travels to and from the community on his motorbike, told The Gleaner that the poor state of the road caused him to spend a tidy sum on repairs to what was his major means of transportation.
"I had to go to the mechanic every weekend to tighten up. I had to change parts, bearings and [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]tune [COLOR=orange! important]up[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] di wheels and dem ting deh. The parts last longer now and it easier to move around," he said.
Economic opportunities
McNeill, said he was pleased the residents were happy, as the road conditions had stymied the sustainable development of the area.
"The community is a tranquil area. It is a lovely place to go for fish and is ripe for eco-tourism but the road conditions were stifling the community and the parish council would not have had enough money to deal with the road, so it was done under the fund," he said.
"Just doing that road, what you are going to find is that economic opportunities will be opened here," he added. claudia.gardner@gleanerjm.com