Everald Warmington, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, says that J$15 million will be allocated to undertake emergency repair work on the Seaman Valley Millbank road network in Eastern Portland.

The announcement came yesterday (May 3) during a tour of the constituency at the invitation of Member of Parliament Ann-Marie Vaz.

“The condition of that road is one of the worst I have seen. Based on the deplorable condition of the road, I asked the National Works Agency (NWA) team to scope a J$15 million emergency project for it right now, to try and make the surface a little better to use…The Government will release J$15 million as an emergency to address the situation. We did J$30 million in phase one and now I’ve asked the team to do the next J$50 million as phase two,” said Warmington.

Vaz had previously shared in a statement that she was frustrated that residents of Fairy Hill and surrounding communities still do not have piped water and are suffering from bad road and dust conditions. She then requested that something be done about infrastructure issues plaguing the Eastern Portland area.

Minister Warmington gave the assurance that the roads in the areas toured will be addressed.

“I can assure the Member of Parliament, Ann Marie Vaz, and the people of Eastern Portland that the Government listens, will react and all of these projects will be addressed this year including [Norwich Heights] even though it is not a part of the NWA network,” he shared.

Among the areas toured were Wain Road, Ginger House, Cornwall Barracks, Norwich Heights, the Toms Hope breakaway, the Ginger House breakaway, the Comfort Castle breakaway and Alligator Church Bridge to Belleview.

Fairy Hill was not listed in the toured communities.