Shooters Hill residents cry for relief from dust nuisance

The residents of Shooters Hill in St Andrew said they are being choked by the dust nuisance being created from the construction of the South Coast Highway.

In addition, those who spoke to the news team said it has also crippled their livelihood and has caused them to close their establishments.

Alicia Dennis was among a group of persons who sat under a shed on a sidewalk, footsteps away from where members of the China Harbour Engineering Company were carrying out construction work. A water truck was seen sprinkling the roadway, but that did very little to control the dust that has painted the area white.

"Every day and every minute mi have to clean mi house. The dust live inna mi place. Look how mi hair dirty, and is not because mi nuh wash it. It is because of the dust, and mi can't wash mi hair every day. If yuh ever see inna the house dem how dem dutty. Vehicles have to wash daily and it nuh make nuh sense, because it look like a snow a fall on them," Dennis said.

Margaret Taylor said she is forced to wear excessive clothing in the boiling heat to protect her skin.

"More time yuh see di trucks dem a carry sand and it a leak or blow out, and all a that blow inna we place. We have to keep covering we face; and it worse when breeze a blow. When di dust a blow, we can't even open we mouth or else a straight in deh it gone. A summer now and mi have to wear bare tall-sleeve ganzie to protect mi skin. If yuh feel mi face now, a bare dirt," she said.

"If yuh come a mi yard, yuh tink mi is a nasty gal. When the clothes dem wash, is di dirt itself deh pon dem, suh yuh have to wash a night and take dem up early a morning," Taylor added.

Another resident said she welcomes the highway, but is pleading with the relevant authorities to find a better solution to the dust nuisance.

"Dem a lick down the hill and a bare dirt. Dem use to wet the place, but it nah happen often enough. Couple days ago, one of the children eyes swell up bad because of the dust and her mother had to give her allergy medicine, and is about two days ago it come down. But she have a cold now. Like now, when the men working, everyone has to just go in their houses although the place hot," the woman said.

Stephen Shaw, communications manager at the National Works Agency, said that this weekend, the area will be transformed into a one-way corridor in order to carry out construction work.

Shaw encouraged persons who are travelling between Kingston and St Thomas, as well as those going to and from the Norman Manley International Airport, to factor in additional minutes to their travel time, as there may be minor delays.