SPALDINGS, Clarendon:
CLIFTON STONE of Clarendon North West and Audley Shaw of Manchester North East, JLP Members of Parliament, have both accused the government of sabotaging projects for which they have made representation in their constituencies.
Their accusations were made at a rally in the town of Spaldings on Sunday night.
According to Mr. Stone, Mr. Shaw and himself had invited Jan Dubbeldam, then European Commis-sioner to the Caribbean, to look at a water supply improvement project which they both proposed to improve the Spaldings-Christiana Water Supply, over three years ago.
Mr. Stone stated that when Mr. Dubbeldam met with them in Christiana and inspected their proposal to have a new dam constructed, at an area known as the Two-Meeting Bridge at Alston in Clarendon North West, the project was given his stamp of approval and it was agreed that it would have been put before the European Commission.
He stated that after the European Commission went through the details of the proposal for the project, it was accepted and $120 million was granted for the construction of the dam.
"The European Union granted $120 million to build the dam below Alston at Two-Meeting Bridge and to pump the water up into Spaldings to supply all the villages including Santa Hill, Nine Miles, right down to Malcolm's Town, Boo Town into Alston, over into Sanguinetti and other areas. But, what has happened? Almost three years has passed and the government has failed to start the project," Mr. Stone said.
He stated that the government needed to tell the people of both constituencies what had happened to the money for the project and why it had failed to get the project off the ground.
Mr. Stone said that because the area in which the dam was to be constructed was predominantly JLP there had been foot-dragging with the implementation of the project, while residents continued to encounter hardships with inadequate water supply.
He promised supporters that should the JLP be elected to form the next government, the project would be one of the first on the agenda for both constituencies.
Mr. Shaw, in endorsing the accusations of his colleague Clifton Stone, said that following the approval of the project by the European Union, the government should have submitted an asset management plan to that body, in order to get the project started, but had refused to do so for more than two years.
"Please do not lose hope. When we come in, Clifton Stone and I will be implementing that water project and water shall flow in the areas served by the Christiana-Spaldings water supply scheme," Mr. Shaw promised.
Also, Stone took to task Arnold Bertram, the Minister of Local Government, for failing to effectively respond to representation he had made to rid the town of Spaldings of the serious congestion problem, which has been affecting it for several years.
"The town has been congested for a number of years and more than two years now I have made representation for a road to be constructed from the Library down to the Gas Station to take away much of the traffic from the centre of the town," Stone said.
He noted that Mr. Bertram's response in a letter to the project, stated that he had put the matter to the Clarendon Parish Council. But, according to Mr. Stone, that should not have been the move by the minister as the Parish Council could not take on the project, as it was strapped for funds.
He said that should the JLP be elected to office in the up-coming general election, that too would be another of several projects which would be implemented Clarendon in North West Clarendon.
Mr. Stone stated that the project is well needed to ease the traffic congestion, which is created while motorists seek to travel to and from the North Coast.
