Priority number 1: That, said Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resource Management, the Honourable Ian Gooding-Edghill, is the instruction of Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley in relation to the rehabilitation of the road at White Hill in St. Andrew.
He told the House of Assembly this afternoon during debate on the 2021-22 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure that under a soon to be completed loan agreement with the Government of China for $230 million, the first project to be undertaken will be the rebuilding of the road at White Hill.
In the meanwhile, however, explained Deputy Chief Technical Officer in that ministry, Phillip Tudor, preliminary work is already underway. He revealed that geo-technical experts were already on the job, a network of boreholes would be drilled in a matter of weeks and the results of the soil test used to determine the best road solution for the area.
He explained that the drilling rig, which is currently in Grenada, and the movement of which was hampered by COVID-19 restrictions, should be in the island in another two to three weeks and soon after that the results of the tests would be known.
Responding to questions relating to why a temporary solution had not yet been implemented to offer the 200-odd households in the district some relief, Tudor explained that the temporary solution recommended would have cost the Government between $20 and $30 million and did not make economic sense. The aim, he said, under the planned Chinese project, would be to create an effective, cost efficient, permanent solution that is based on sound engineering principles.