According to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, the road at Bluff on the Grenadine island of Bequia is a ‘complicated engineering problem’.
The Paget Farm road serves as the primary link to the Bequia Airport, the Fisheries Center, and the island’s main desalination plant; as a result, it is one of the busiest sections of road in Bequia.
Gonsalves stated that the issue has been raised in Parliament during question time and is also included in the estimates. Finance Minister Camilo Gonsalves indicated in January that $696,000 had been approved to realign the road at Bluff.
“What has been taking some time is that the technical people were having some issues that they had to resolve among themselves. That is the better approach for a long-term solution rather than a short-term one.”
“There is going to be a long-term solution, and there have been consultations already with people in the area; properties would have to be acquired, at least some; it’s a complicated engineering problem”, Gonsalves stated.
Gonsalves said what BRAGSA (the Roads, Buildings, and General Services Authority) is doing at this point is a temporary fix to something that has deteriorated.
“There is a comprehensive plan in respect of the engineering of it, and the resources are there for it to be done”, he stated.
According to an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report filed in December 2016 and amended in January 2017 by FDL Consult Inc., St. Lucia, four possibilities for the construction of the Paget Farm road alignment were investigated.
To identify the hierarchy of design possibilities, a multi-criteria approach was used, led by the World Bank’s three pillars of sustainable development: economic viability, social effect, and environmental impact.
Option three was the subject of a thorough study and technical design, and it was proposed as the new route for this stretch of Paget Farm Road.
“Option 3: The Magenta or Massa Hill Option; Inland Movement of the Road This option holds the potential for a longer life without consideration for coastal erosion or impact on the marine environment; however, it has a much larger environmental footprint.
It requires the acquisition of more land to create a gentler descent. The social, environmental, and economic costs of this would be very high. There is also the potential for protracted negotiations since one landowner is not thrilled with the road in her backyard”.
According to the ESIA assessment, the development process would comprise vegetation clearing, excavation, road paving, drain paving, and retaining structure construction.
