Contractors commit to fixing Hanover roads damaged by hauling marl

Western Bureau:

The contractors working on the new Princess Hotel in Green Island, Hanover, have written to the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), promising to underwrite the cost of repairing the roads that residents say are being damaged by heavy-duty trucks hauling marl through their communities.

Following a recent meeting of the HMC’s Physical Planning and Environment Committee, where the content of the letter was discussed, a decision was taken to allow the contractors to continue to use the roadways to truck marl but under strict conditions.

In April, the HMC took a decision to write to the contractors, who are building the 2,000 hotels, asking them to discontinue using the Wharf Road, in Orange Bay, which residents claimed was being extensively damaged by the trucks transporting marl from a quarry in Orange Bay to the hotel site in Green Island.

However, in their letter, the contractors sought permission from the HMC to continue using the road for the next two months, saying that once they are through transporting marl, they will undertake the repairing of the damaged roads.

In addition to Wharf Road, the main road from Winchester through Santoy on to Fish River was another area where residents say significant damage has been done to the roadway, which prompted their call for the HMC to take immediate action against the contractors.

In April, Councillor Marvel Sewell, of the Green Island division, told the monthly meeting of the HMC that he was at his wit’s end trying to prevent the residents from staging a major protest as in addition to the damage to the roads, the water main in the community was also being damaged, alongside a vexing dust nuisance.

“Apart from the overloaded trucks with marl damaging the roads, they (the trucks) are also bursting pipelines in some areas and are causing accidents in others. The main road from Winchester through Santoy to Fish River and on to Green Island has been severely damaged, and they (the truck drivers) are now moving to Wharf Road,” Sewell said at the time.

However, in their letter, which was read at the recent HMC’s Physical Planning and Environment Committee meeting, the contractors asked for permission for the trucks to be allowed to use Wharf Road leading into Orange Bay and on to the hotel site in Green Island and for arrangements to be put in place for the repair of the roadways once they are through with trucking marl.

In quoting from the letter, Grace Whittley, the director of planning at the HMC, said the contractors were seeking permission to continue to use Wharf Road for the next two months, using no more than 10 trucks per day, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The letter stated that Blair’s Quarry was the only quarry where they could get the quantity of marl they needed, hence their need to use Wharf Road, which is the most convenient route.

“They (the contractors) say that they have been using the alternate route, the Santoy Road, for some time, but it is proving very far,” said Whittley.

The committee decided to schedule a meeting between the HMC and the contractors to lay out the regulations, guidelines, and expectations regarding the continued use of the affected road.