Potholes on nation’s roads causing PM ‘great pain’

The state of the nation’s roads is causing Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves “great pain”, {{more}}he said on radio on Wednesday.

Many of the nation’s roads are riddled with potholes and present significant inconveniences to motorists and pedestrians.

“The area which is giving me great pain is the roads, which we have to fix, particularly the secondary roads,” Gonsalves said.

“And we have been having problems getting hot mix,” he said, adding that his government has arranged to source asphalt from Venezuela.

“The first container load is coming … from Venezuela for us to do some testing with it to see the quality. And then that may help us. We may get it from the PetroCaribe,” he said.

“We have to look for all kinds of creative ways to see how the holes can be plugged for us to go forward. That is the business of government.

“I know some roads in my [North Central Windward] constituency — you take place like Doctor Smith above Park Hill, I mean the roads are terrible,” Gonsalves said.

He further stated that retaining walls are needed in some parts of the country.

“… There are always going to back walls to be done, but some are in worse conditions than others, because of the slippages,” he said, adding, “… The shocks that we get to our system are not episodic.

“We live with the shocks … of nature, which are constants and we live, also, with the shocks from outside, with the global economic crisis. Of course, we live with the blessing, too, of the weather…” the prime minister further said. (KXC)