The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

WORKS and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears announced yesterday two major road improvement developments, including a three-week “blitz” to repair potholes in New Providence.

This comes after Mr Sears and other officials, as well as representatives from Bahamas Striping Group of Companies, were in Exuma on Friday to tour road works there.

Mr Sears said yesterday that over the next several months, Bahamians will see a major national initiative to deal with potholes that litter the roads of the country.

“What you will see over the next several months, a major national initiative to deal with the quality of the roads, the patching of the potholes and the paving of the roads, not only here in The Grove, but throughout New Providence, as well as the Family Islands,” he said.

Mr Sears said his ministry is commencing a blitz roadworks operation in various areas of New Providence, including The Grove, where a paving crew was present yesterday to patch potholes in the area of Fourth Street.

“With respect to New Providence we will be within the next several weeks, we will have a three-week blitz. We will engage additional contractors and the 12 zones, we will cover them and ensure that the potholes in New Providence are addressed,” he said.

“We will expand the capacity of the road paving crews within the ministry as well as with drainage crews so that we have a quick response in addition to the contractors. We also will bring in more inspectors through the various parts of New Providence to ensure the quality of work is up to the specification.”

Mr Sears added: “The Cabinet is addressing the issue of additional supplies, dumpsters, trucks and other supplies to ensure that the blitz and the work that you will see will be sustained over this year into next year and continually into the future.”

For the island of Eleuthera, Mr Sears said yesterday that he has secured 100 tons of coal patch for road works that he announced along with Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting yesterday.

“I’m pleased to announce that 100 tons of coal patch will be delivered to you, Minister (Clay Sweeting) so that the pot hole situation in Eleuthera can be addressed. You, sir, will be getting 100 tons of coal patch within the next two weeks,” Mr Sears said.

“We have with our budget several million dollars to deal with the issue of roads. We have a paper which has been sent to the Ministry of Finance to get additional funding and once that final figure is determined, we’ll announce it,” he said.

Mr Sweeting yesterday expressed his gratitude for the progress of road and infrastructure works on the Family Islands.

“We sent ten tons there (Eleuthera) just a few months ago, just to get an idea of what 100 tons would be able to accommodate. So this would be able to fix the pressing problem of road issues temporarily as we look at a permanent solution for the persons there in Eleuthera,” he said.

“This speaks to the amount of investment being put into the Family Islands, especially Eleuthera, as we look forward to foreign direct investment,” Mr Sweeting said.

In New Providence, Mr Sears also said his ministry recently had a community consultation in the area of Village Road about the ongoing road works, which was constructive and amicable.

He said his biggest priority is to meet the December deadline.

Mr Sears then mentioned that there are plans being made to commence an extensive road works project in Eleuthera, similar to that of the $60m infrastructure project ongoing in Exuma. He said he plans to deal with the airport on the island as well.

In addition, he mentioned previous visits to the Glass Window Bridge and the Gregory Town dock and wharf in Eleuthera with plans to renovate those areas.

Mr Sears added that he recently met with Eleuthera developers and a team from Disney, then visited Florida to make sure Disney’s plans for the Eleuthera Lighthouse Point project on the island are in full compliance with the laws of The Bahamas.