It was a scene of chaos as angy residents from Mango Valley, St Mary, blocked a section of the North Coast Highway (in the vicinity of Stewart Town), on Monday February 16, to protest against the poor condition of roads in the area.Residents as well as taxi operators who ply the routes to Mango Valley said they were now fed up with the state of the road. They stood and sat in the roadway with placards, stopping traffic on the main road between Ocho Rios, St Ann andOracabessa. When North Coast Times arrived on the scene Monday morning, traffic was piled up on the highway as residents shouted angrily, demanding immediate repairs to the road and that the Member of Parliament for Western St. Mary, Joylan Silvera, meet with them.A resident from Mango Valley, Joy, spoke with The Timesand made her frustrations known. “Di road very poor. Dem promise fi fix it a year now and all now it don’t fix!”Councillor for the Boscobel division, Fitzroy Wilson, was on the scene and sympathisized with the residents. He stated that the road conditions were very bad and said MP JoylanSilvera was working on getting the roads fixed. “The Member of Parlialiament is at a meeting in Kingston with the minister (of transport and works) and NWA. An assessment of the road was done on the road recently and funds are to be sought to repair the roads.” He said Silvera was trying to get funds for emergency work.The councillorsaid they were hoping to have a meeting with residents on Tuesday (Feb 17) to better address the concerns of residents.Superintendent of police, Stephanie Lindsay Clarke, pleaded with residents not to hamper the flow of traffic on the road and to resolve their grouses with those responsible for the road conditions of the area. Residents with their placards agreed to keep off the road and stood by the roadside saying their protests would escalate if there was no action.
