Morin Seymour (right), CEO of the Kingston Restoration Company; Canadian High Commissioner Denis Kingsley (second left); Lorraine Be'lisle (left) and Paulette Anderson cut the ribbon to reopen the refurbished Mammee River road in St Andrew last Tuesday. Looking on from behind is Stephen Shaw, communications manager at the National Works Agency - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer
Relief has finally come to some 1,500 residents of Mammee River district in rural St Andrew who were cut off from the rest of the parish after the main road leading to the district was damaged during the passage of Tropical Storm Gustav last August.
Last Tuesday, members of the National Works Agency (NWA), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and political representatives joined hands with residents to cut the red ribbon and officially reopen the roadway.
"I'm so glad," said a beaming Paulette Anderson, a resident whose motor car had been parked on the other side of the community for about three months.
The project, 'The Post Gustav Infrastructure Support for Recon-necting Mammee River district to the Central Road to the City', represents part of the Canadian Government's assistance for restoration efforts in the aftermath of the storm.
$13-million contract
The contract sum was more than $13 million.
Denis Kingsley, Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica, told the gathering that once his government heard that the community's access road was destroyed, they had to assist.
"Access roads are the lifeline of a community. Without these roads, communities such as this one can become isolated," said Kingsley.
Along with CIDA and the NWA, other partners involved in the project were Canada's Department of National Defence, the Jamaica Defence Force and the Kingston Restoration Company.