I gave gov’t permission a year ago- Dawson
Work started on October 8, 2011 in the vicinity of the Methodist Manse and proceeded to the direction of Joe’s Hill where the final stretch for blasting and excavation reportedly awaits permission from the land owner. “I can see that 50 percent of the work has already been completed. We are waiting on the final section. So far we have only had agreement by those land owners in the area to commence the work and we are awaiting the agreement by the other land owner here before we can commence with the rest of the work,” Fourth District representative Dr. Vincent Scatliffe had told Virgin Islands News Online last week.
But according to Mr. Dawson, who was speaking last evening October 19, 2011, on the radio programme “In the Hot Seat”, he has stated it publically before that he did give permission for the land to be cut and speculated that it is probably just a ploy by government to stall the works since they don’t have money to complete the works. He also speculated that it could also be an attempt to make him look “bad” in the public’s eye.
He noted that in September of 2010, he sent a letter to Government stating that they could go ahead and cut the land and then they would talk about compensation. Mr. Dawson also said he was no fool to try to hold up such a project when he knew that Government also has the power to take the portion of land with or without his permission.
Meanwhile, Dr. Scatliffe had stated that all the other land owners along with the residents in the area were very interested in seeing the road widened. “So there was no money that exchanged hands for properties here. The agreement was that we just cut an access road for them.”
The project for the widening of the carriageway between the Methodist Manse and Joe’s Hill, is expected to significantly reduce the traffic congestion that has plagued the area for years.
Meanwhile, measures have been put in place to minimise traffic operation impacts such as access and safety and the road known as the Paul Wattley By-pass road is closed to traffic travelling east from Russell Hill at the junction to the St. Georges School and access from Joe’s Hill road has been restricted to residents only. Persons dropping off or picking up children at St. Georges School are being asked to use the Main Street access for the duration of the project.Dr. Scatliffe had previously described the widening of the Manse Road as a vital project since that carriageway would be depended upon to take off some of the traffic when the Road Town Sewerage Project gets underway.
Speaking at a town hall meeting in May, Hon. Scatliffe had said the widening of the road was long awaited and ever since he came to the council he had worked tirelessly to get the project completed. “Because I understand the importance of it and the traffic challenges that we face with that piece of road network. This Manse road is very important to the sewerage project. It is all tied in because as we start the work on the sewerage project it is going to start some traffic challenges and that road would become very vital to take the excess traffic over onto the general road network,” the 4th District representative had said.
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