Wrensford: Old Road Bay Rehabilitation Project as designed will create problems further down the coastline

The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) candidate for St. Christopher 4 (Old Road to Half Way Tree), Steve Wrensford, has accused the Timothy Harris administration of insulting the residents of Old Road by not consulting them prior to the signing of an agreement to rehabilitate Old Road Bay.

"The people of Old Road have learnt in the news, just like everyone else, that the government has awarded an EC$40 million contract to someone to rehabilitate the Old Road Bay. The people of Old Road were not consulted at the conceptualisation phase of this project and have not been properly informed or well-positioned to take advantage of any opportunities which may arise from the project," said Wrensford, a former non-resident ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.

He said of greater concern for the people of Old Road and the nearby villages is that the reclamation of land in the Old Road Bay area will disperse the powerful waves that normally hit the bay, further down the coast.

"Once rocks and dirt are dumped into Old Road Bay, houses further down the coast will be threatened by powerful waves that would now bounce off the new manmade barrier and move down the coastline," said the local businessman.

Wrensford pointed to the history of the threat from coastal erosion and asked if any wave study was done as part of the planning.

"Over the last 10 years or so, a number of families in Old Road, Halfway Tree and Verchilds had to be removed from the coast and resettled further inland. This threat becomes much greater during hurricanes," said Wrensford.

He said the lack of consultation and proper planning will result in causing serious wave damage to people's hard-earned property and even threatening people's lives.

"This is no small problem. This is a problem of monumental proportion for the people of Old Road, Verchilds, Middle Island and Godwin Ghaut and Halfway Tree," said Wrensford.

He raised another major issue of major traffic congestion which not only affects the people of Old Road in a significant way but also affects the travelling public going east to Basseterre or west from the capital.

"This Old Road Bay Rehabilitation project does nothing to solve that problem. If anything, it makes the problem worse," said Wrensford.

He said the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party proposes to construct a bypass road from the Stone Fort area down to Brimstone Hill into Sandy Point.

"This would reduce the congestion in Old Road and create a highway that gets people to and from their destination in quick time. This highway will also improve safety and security and bring much-needed relief to the people of Old Road and the nearby villages," said Wrensford, who promised that if elected as the next representative "I will consider it my bounden duty to make such a project a reality for the people of Old Road and the travelling public."