Repairs coming for secondary roads early next year – PM Gonsalves

A number of this country’s secondary roads would see repairs early next year.

Last Wednesday, during a press conference at the Argyle International Airport (AIA), Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves announced that over EC$80 million would be made available to work on the secondary roads, village roads and feeder roads, with funds from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Kuwaiti Fund.{{more}}

“As you know, many of our secondary roads, village roads and feeder roads are in a bad condition for several reasons… and we need a large chunk of money and we’re doing some preparatory work. I announced in Parliament that we are looking for entities in the Middle East including the Kuwaiti Fund for Economic Development and the OPEC Fund for International Development.”

Gonsalves said the board of the Kuwati Fund has approved US$14.5 million in soft loans and support programmes. Additionally, a request to the OFID for US$32.5 million for road repair will go to the board of that organization in September.

All that, the Prime Minister said, is in addition to money which the Government already has from the CDB, the World Bank, the EU and Mexico, in respect of road rehabilitation, some of which is already ongoing.

The Prime Minister indicated that a number of delays, including the unavailability of the heavy machinery that is being used at the Argyle International Airport, set the work back to begin early next year.

“In the meantime we have been doing some patching, but importantly substantial work is also going on. Look at the Leeward Highway… from Hospital Road to Layou…. On the windward side, two bridges are being constructed in Byera and Mount Young,” Gonsalves said.(JJ)