Decades of bad roads - St Simon wants the matter to be addressed

Residents of St Simon in Hanover say that for more than 30 years they have been begging for better roads leading into their community, but nothing has been done. When the Western STAR visited the hilltop district recently, the residents were quick to point out pothole-filled roadways, and blamed the authorities for failing to address the long-standing matter.

"The roads have been like this for more than 20 years and we don't have any member of parliament or anybody to business with we," Lynette Campbell told The Western STAR.

"We want someone to assist us with the roads because bike, car and bus run up here on the bad road, but we don't know for how long [this will continue]. Every time they have to be at the garage doing repairs because they can't manage the potholes and things only getting worse."

In fact, things are so bad that some taxi operators are cutting their route short for fear of causing further damage to their vehicles, leaving residents to walk the rest of the journey with their goods.

The residents claim that they came together and patched some of the rougher sections of the road, and they are now calling on the authorities to take the lead and do proper rehabilitation.

However, when contacted, Ian Hayles, member of parliament (MP) for Western Hanover, told Western STAR that half of the road has been done and he is waiting for additional funding to complete the resurfacing.

"I put $10 million along with what funding I got to do half, and the residents are fully aware," he said.

"I cannot give you a timeline for the rest to be done, because it all comes down to the availability of funds."

Even as the MP pleads for patience, some residents believe that the bad road has contributed to the low student enrolment at schools in the community.