Road repair bill could rise amid continued rainfall - NWA

 

The National Works Agency (NWA) is anticipating an increase in the repair bill for the country's road network following the heavy rains over the last few weeks. 

 

Since Friday, a trough across the Western Caribbean has caused unstable weather conditions across sections of the island. 

 

Following significant flooding in the Corporate Area on September 19, the NWA submitted its assessment of the damage to Minister with responsibility for Works, Robert Morgan. 

 

Homes, businesses and the road network were impacted. 

 

Speaking Tuesday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, NWA Communication Manager Stephen Shaw said the cost of repairs, which has not been divulged, could increase. 

 

Mr. Shaw said this is especially in light of the weather this month seeming returning to previous years. 

 

"[Minister Morgan] will speak to what is in the document. I don't think it is for me to say. But what I will say though is that the numbers that we would have put together in that document may change based on what would have happened subsquently. Remember, we are in October, and traditionally, I think what is happening - and I stand corrected by persons from the Met Office who would track these things - I think this October feels much like, and looks much like the Octobers of old, with the kind of rainfall that we have been experiencing." 

 

Still, Mr. Shaw expressed confidence in the strength of the road network to withstand weather events, noting that the construction and rehabilitation of roadways have improved. 

 

"We have built some amount of resilience into the network. Yes, we have weaknesses. We have a lot of weaknesses, but we also have improved in many areas," he conceded. "We have bigger drains. We have more drains. We have more drainage features that we have incorporated into our road construction activities and these have been working and have worked well where they have been allowed to function the way that they were designed."