Infrastructural upgrades in Sophia expected to commence next month - Minister Patterson

Infrastructural upgrades in Sophia expected to commence next month – Minister Patterson

Aug 20, 2015 News

Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson

While complaints mount about unsightly and in some cases impassable, pot-holed roads, the Government is working to ensure durable infrastructure in as many communities as possible nationwide.
The Sophia area, which was referred to in days of old as the ‘mud haven’ is first on the list of communities that will receive a facelift before year end. This is according to David Patterson, Senior Minister responsible for public infrastructure, energy and communications.
The tenders for road construction and bridges in the community are out as of Tuesday last, and the minister has disclosed that the entire ring road will be addressed.
“From Dennis Street, ‘A’ field, the entire perimeter road and the cross streets will all be fixed with ‘A’ specification roads,” the Minister assured. In addition, eight new bridges linking all the fields in the community, as well as another linking the Sophia area to Guyhoc, are on the cards.
Slated to offer more insight into his ministry’s programme plan today in the National Assembly, Patterson said his ministry is not planning to compare its works to the past administration’s undertakings, but quipped that the roads will be “APNU/AFC quality roads.”
Noting that there will be some amount of inconvenience to residents, he advised that they understand that “better is coming and better is here… it can’t be more inconvenient than driving on those pot-holed roads which they have now; which require long boots etc., when the rains come.”
Speaking to the time frame for actual physical works to commence, he anticipates that by the time the budget is passed the tender period would be closed, followed by a period of evaluation. Minister Patterson is optimistic that, “by the third week in September; all being well, we will start, and we have to complete it in 2015.”