“There is a Bustamante Museum in Kingston. But while that is commendable, it is untenable that residents and students from the parish [of Hanover] should have to travel to Kingston to learn about the life and worth of our native son, who is Independent Jamaica’s first Prime Minister.”

The Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) is advocating an increase in the number of monuments in the parish honouring the life and work of National Hero and native son, the Right Excellent Sir Alexander Bustamante.

To this end, Deputy Mayor of Lucea, Councillor Andria Dehaney-Grant, moved a motion during the Corporation’s monthly meeting on March 9, calling for the establishment of a Bustamante Museum.

“There is a Bustamante Museum in Kingston. But while that is commendable, it is untenable that residents and students from the parish [of Hanover] should have to travel to Kingston to learn about the life and worth of our native son, who is Independent Jamaica’s first Prime Minister,” Councillor Dehaney-Grant said. She noted the recent unveiling of a life-sized statue of Sir Alexander on the grounds of the Hanover Parish Library last August.

“While the statue was a welcome addition to the memorializing of the National Hero, there is a need for him to have a greater presence in the parish of his birth. One way this can be achieved is if more monuments are placed here in Hanover,” Councillor Dehaney-Grant emphasized.

During a recent civic ceremony marking the 139th anniversary of Sir Alexander’s birth, students of Cacoon Primary School made an appeal for their institution, where the National Hero received his formative education, to be renamed the Sir Alexander Bustamante Primary School.

On that occasion, Councillor Dehaney-Grant, who endorsed the call, urged the relevant authorities to do everything necessary to make this happen before the next birthday celebration.

Member of Parliament for Hanover Western, Tamika Davis, who also endorsed the request, told JIS news that she would be making representation to Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams to have the change effected.

“I believe that it is only fitting that the school is named after him. I will begin to lobby in earnest to have that name changed. So, I will speak to Minister Williams and see how best and how quickly we can do this,” she said.

Motorists and pedestrians using the bridge at the western end of Howard Cooke Boulevard in Montego Bay, face “a dangerous environment,” according to Councillor and Senator Charles Sinclair.

In light of the refusal of the National Works Agency (NWA) to attend meetings of the St. James Municipal Corporation, Senator Sinclair took the route of a resolution at last Thursday’s council meeting to bring the problem to the Agency’s attention. In presenting it, he prefaced that “if they came and would interface with us, I think we would have been able to have this discussion.”

The resolution noted that the bridge, which spans the Barnett River, was “a critical component of the main road” and in need of repairs as “over the past ten years the rubberized surface material on the said bridge has been severely degraded and eroded, exposing the metal surface and creating a dangerous environment to the motor and pedestrian traffic traversing the said bridge.”

Sinclair pointed out that it was the duty of the Chief Technical Director (at the NWA) to manage and repair roads and bridges attached to them. Therefore the municipal corporation was calling upon the officer “to conduct an urgent assessment of the state of the said bridge and implement the needed repairs there to guarantee a safe environment for the motoring and pedestrian traffic.”

He is further asking that the assessment and timeline for repairs be shared with the municipal corporation.

The senator drew attention to information that the Government had earmarked $1.3 billion to repair several bridges but that the Howard Cooke Bridge was not among them. Senator Sinclair spoke of a personal experience of him driving very slowly on the bridge earlier this year at a time when there was a slight rainfall “and when I got unto this bridge my car went from side to side, slipping on the metal surface.” He said other persons had told him of having similar experiences and also of accidents as a consequence of the problem on the bridge.

In addition to its heavy usage by motorcars, trucks, and buses, there is a constant movement of pedestrians, including students, tourists, and persons exercising.

MAJOR TRAFFIC LOAD

Senator Sinclair did not say it, but the bridge falls within segment one of the North Coast Highway, which runs from Montego Bay to Negril and which needs intervention from the government. Constructed in 2001, the roadway has a design life of 15 years. It has now been in use for 23 years bearing the major traffic load that commutes within and through the city.

Now classified as a “white road”, meaning that it is highly accident prone, and while the base and sub-base are said to be still solid, it is past due that the road should be resurfaced.

The problem identified by Cllr. Sinclair comes against the background of the NWA having to correct a section of the road that was sinking near to the bride now under review, twice repairing another of the bridges on the boulevard in 2022, as expansion joints along a section had been compromised, posing a danger to motorists.

While acknowledging publicly that the expansion joints on the bridge had become defective and “requiring immediate repairs,” it took some two years after it was first brought to public attention for the joints to be replaced. Repairs included demolition and reconstruction of the concrete abutment to the bridge, as well as the removal and replacement of the defective expansion joints.

More recently, the Works Agency had to resurface most of the eastbound corridor along the AGS Coombs section of the highway.

The first segment of Highway 2000 was constructed by the Korean firm Bosung Engineering under a wave of controversy and industrial disputes.

The parish of St. James is burning from an unprecedented number of bushfires.

Presenting a monthly report to the St. James Municipal Corporation’s regular Council Meeting on Thursday, March 9, 2023, former Acting Superintendent Everett Montaque related that up to this month, the fire brigade had to respond to over 120 bushfires.

This number outweighed the 88 bushfires that the brigade responded to for the entire month of February. Last month there were 18 bushfire calls for the Coral Gardens area, 13 each for the Sign – Orange – Adelphi area, 12 each for Westgate, Anchovy, and Montpelier, and seven for Cornwall Courts.

“But for this month, already we have responded to 122 bush fire calls,” he reported. Coral Gardens has had 21 so far, Westgate Hills 14, Cornwall Court nine, Greenwood and Ramble-Sign 18 each, and Anchovy 24.

The Ramble-Burnt Ground area is said to be “one of the troubled areas” as there’s a man there who constantly sets fires to his property despite being spoken to on several occasions. That matter has since been reported to the police for legal action.

Councilor Charles Sinclair, a seasoned attorney, advised that in legislation, there was “The Country Fire Act,” which made it an offense to set fires to crops or trash, being negligent on the use of fire and that “it is a criminal offense” for which persons can be prosecuted.

The fire officer stated that the firefighting suppression team “responded to a whopping 263 emergencies,” 205 of those being genuine calls. He said 143 of those genuine calls resulted from bushfires, 16 malicious false alarms, 14 false alarms with good intent, eight motor vehicle accidents, and 20 emergency medical services.

Regarding equipment, he said of 16 fire-fighting apparatus in the division, ten were operable while six units “are in the shop for minor repairs.”

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Civic and Community Affairs Committee, Dwight Crawford, is giving an assurance that the smoke seen across south-western Montego Bay in recent days has been due to persons burning coal and the fire getting out of hand and not a problem emanating from the Retirement Land Fill.

Appealing to the persons involved to either cease their operation until the weather condition becomes more conducive or control their burning activities, Cllr Crawford pointed out that the fire service could not access some of the areas where this is being carried out.

And, St. James has a new divisional commander, with Interim Senior Superintendent, Conroy Ganze taking over from Rudolph Seaton, who has been reassigned duty in Westmoreland.