THE EDITOR, Sir:
YOUR EDITORIAL on the Bog Walk gorge on Friday, November 18, was not only timely, but it addressed the problem of Government procrastination.
When working in the Town Planning Department in the early 1970s, it was discussed at length and a recommendation was sent to the minister requesting that the Ministry of Works initiate the preparation of the necessary civil engineering drawings for an alternative route from Bushy Park to Ocho Rios as was recommended in the United Nations Physical Plan for Jamaica of 1970. Not a thing happened!
Again in the late '70s, we in the Town Planning Department asked for a programme of resettling the people living within the gorge, relocating the railway and providing an alternative road to the north coast. Nothing!
While working at the Jamaica National Investment Company in the '80s, I recommended that we dam the gorge and establish hydroelectric turbines to produce electricity and have enough water for domestic and agricultural needs in St. Catherine. I was ridiculed and told that we are a Third World country with no resources. Financing was obtainable but colonial mentality prevailed. Nothing happened!
Never mind that I have researched the subject thoroughly; the geology is right and the need is there, Furthermore, up to about 1974 there was a small hydro plant in the gorge. The shell of a building, which housed the turbine, is still visible today.
We have lost lives from flooding in the Bog Walk gorge before; there have been numerous editorials in The Gleaner about it, yet not a thing happened.
Why are we so reluctant to move forward with our lives and develop Jamaica in a sensible way? We do not have any long-term plans any more. All our planning is done on a project-by-project method without regards to what is happening around us. Environmental degradation is rife, and we continue to be surprised by the escalation of violent crimes.
Shouldn't we remember that everything is linked? Although our people get poor education they are not fools! Every day bucket go a well, one day the bottom must drop out!
I am, etc.,
ERAN SPIRO
Urban Planner
eran@cwjamaica.com
