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New Opposition Leader Urges Jamaicans With Heavy Equipment To Assist Government’s Efforts To Clear Roads

Jamaica's Governor-General, Sir Patrick Allen (right), presents Member of Parliament (MP) for South St. Andrew, Mark Golding, with the Instrument of Appointment, as the new Leader of the Opposition, during a ceremony held at King’s House on Tuesday. Photo credit: Michael Sloley/JIS.

New Opposition Leader Urges Jamaicans With Heavy Equipment To Assist Government’s Efforts To Clear Roads

KINGSTON, Jamaica (Thursday, November 12, 2020) — Newly-elected Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, is calling for persons, with suitable equipment, to assist the government’s efforts to clear roads and blocked drains, resulting from the impact of recent flood rains.

“I appeal for persons, who own heavy equipment, to demonstrate the true Jamaican spirit of love and care for each other, to help in the effort to clear roads and drains and gullies,” Golding said.

He was speaking at a ceremony at King’s House, on Tuesday, where he was presented with the Instrument of Appointment.

He noted that blocked roads, from landslides and breakaways, have cut off important means of access to communities, and it is also vital that drains and gullies are cleared, quickly, as more rain is forecast in the coming days.

The Opposition Leader is also encouraging citizens to assist persons, adversely affected by the heavy rains, in any way they can.

“This is a time to reach out to those in need and lay a helping hand to raise them up, where they may be in need of assistance,” he said.

The National Works Agency (NWA) reported, on Tuesday, that a number of roadways that were impassable have now been reopened. NWA teams, working in affected parishes, have, so far, cleared 11 of the 24 corridors that were blocked.

The agency also informed that landslides have been removed from some critical corridors in northern Clarendon and western St. Thomas, while activities continue to re-establish access along roadways in east rural St. Andrew.

Efforts are now concentrated on removing a massive landslide at a section of the Irish Town Road. This will allow access to a breakaway at a section of the corridor. It will also provide an alternative route to Gordon Town Road, which is impassable, due to a major embankment failure, in the vicinity of Stand Up Hill.

Material is also being cleared along sections of the corridor, from Guava Ridge to Silver Hill Gap, to safely re-establish other detours to Gordon Town Road.

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