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The residents of Axe-and-Adze are demanding that their community road in eastern Hanover be fixed as it is causing them to find extra money to commute to and from the community and preventing goods trucks from going there to supply the various shops and bars.

According to Lawrence Parker, who has been operating a bar in the community for more than 20 years, the only road in the community has been like this for many years.

He said that this dates back to when attorney Francis Tulloch was the member of parliament for Eastern Hanover.

He said that the road has been left to deteriorate and has become an eyesore and needs urgent rehabilitation work.

“Right now, goods truck have stopped coming in here as they normally do to supply the shops and bars in the area. We have to travel to Savanna-la-Mar in Westmorland or to Montego Bay in St James to buy our goods, and then struggle with them on public transportation,” Parker said.

He said that part of what has contributed to the road damage is the poor maintenance of the drains in the community.

“They are not being cleaned regularly, and when it rains, the roadway is transformed into a river bed,” Parker said.

The only means of transportation to and from the community is by way of motorbikes and private vehicles.

Some residents have complained that they have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay $150 from Chi-Chester to Axe-and-Adze via Mt Peto because taxi drivers and bikers are complaining that the pothole-riddled road is damaging their vehicles.

“It can be pressuring at times to find so much money to pay fare,” Ann-Marie Hamilton, a security officer, shared with WESTERN STAR. “It was originally $100, but it raise to $150. We have to pay it because it’s the only means of transportation unless we plan to walk the journey, and that can be very challenging to walk, especially if you have load travelling with.”

She added: “A full journey to and from Montego Bay or Savanna-la-Mar is costing us $710 just for transportation.”

Ferron DeCarish, councillor for the wider Chester Castle division in the Hanover Municipal Corporation, agrees that the road is in a terrible condition. He said that representation has been made for funding to have it rehabilitated.

“It was two Thursday ago I made a request for funding from the Equalisation Fund in the Ministry of Local Government to have the road fixed,” DeCarish said in response to residents’ cries.

“In short order, we should see some work being done on the Axe-and-Adze road,” DeCarish assured residents. “I have also reached out to the Ministry of Agriculture with a view to having that road fixed as a farm road on the basis that the community is predominantly a farming community.”