Bad roads hurting Maroon village

The deplorable state of roadways leading into Accompong is said to be severely affecting the St Elizabeth community’s capacity to develop economically. 

Last week, residents complained to the WESTERN STAR that businesses and families are now feeling the economic impact of the bad road infrastructures in the Maroon village, which depends heavily on tourism and farming.

 “The roads stay like this from I was born and now I soon reach 50 years old,” said Megan Brown, who lives in the community. “What I have witnessed over the years when the roads get bad is that they patched them here and there, but because we get rainfall often, the roads soon get damaged again.”

Other residents said that one of the roadways leading into Accompong is so bad that it has been totally abandoned, even though it is the shortest route to the community from the tourist capital of Montego Bay.

Farmers are said to be feeling the impact of the bad roads because they are often overcharged when they hire transportation to take their produce out of the community. They say potential buyers often opt to go elsewhere to buy their produce in a bid to escape the bad road.   

CAN'T MAKE A DECENT INCOME

Robert Peddie, one of the community’s farmers, said “We end up eating most of what we grow and give away to people some ... sometimes the things spoil and we have to throw them away. We can’t make a decent income like this.”

Lawrence Rowe said of all the needs of the community, the need for a proper road is on top of the list because its negative impact is hurting all and sundry.

“The infrastructure we need is the road because we need the taxi them to carry schoolchildren and the elderly because many of them don’t want to come up here anymore,” said Rowe.  “When they (taxi operators) come up here they complain that their vehicles a damage."