St. George’s, Grenada, March 7th 2011: Former Works Minister, Hon. Gregory Bowen says our roads are in need of urgent attention as they are not only making driving difficult, uncomfortable, and costly for drivers individually, but also imposing a high economic cost burden on the taxpayers of Grenada. According to Senator Bowen, all the streets in the town of St. George, in particular the Carenage are in a deplorable state. Furthermore, the roads island-wide have deteriorated terribly due to a chronic lack of maintenance during the last two and a half years.
“A major factor contributing to the economic growth in Grenada is the significant investment of over $400m in our primary (asphalt) and secondary (concrete) road infrastructure made by the New National Party between 1996 and 2008, following on the electrification programme of 1985 to 1989,” says Senator Bowen. “By discontinuing the maintenance of the roads, this NDC Government has shortened the time to the next major resurfacing by over five years.” This, he said, will put an extra burden on the tax payers translating into over $200m of capital expenditure over the next few years that should not have been required. Moreover this will have devastating effect on Government’s fiscal capability, while at the same time forcing drivers to spend more on tyres, gasoline, brake pads, and other moving vehicles parts in these gru-gru times.
The New National Party calls on the Government to address the road maintenance problem which in the long run would release funds for other uses as healthcare, youth development and agriculture, instead of continuing with their extravagant travel and unabated hiring of NDC party hawks. The former Minister also explained that the method and materials presently used by Government in asphalt road maintenance are substandard and in direct violation of Grenada’s agreement with the international financial institutions. However Bowen noted that the asphalt crews are not to be blamed since the maintenance plan which was in place has been abandoned and the correct materials are not being purchased from CCC by the Government.
The New National Party empathizes with drivers, commuters, pedestrians and vehicle owners for the hardships – financial and otherwise, that they are undergoing due to the terrible conditions of our roads and will continue to press for improvement.
