Some British tourists in Saint Lucia for a nine-night vacation have joined residents complaining about the deplorable state of the Guyabois Road in Saltibus.
The visitors said the situation put a damper on their stay.
Matt Hammond, his wife, their two children, his sister-in-law, and her partner booked into Pineapple Cottage Airbnb on the Guyabois Road.
The group spokesman said it was his second vacation in Saint Lucia.
He recalled that the group hired a vehicle from a car rental company that was aware of the state of the Guyabois Road.
“In the past, when we have rented from them, they have always given us a four-wheel drive vehicle,” Hammond told St. Lucia Times.
He disclosed that this time around, the company provided a Toyota Noah 4WD to accommodate everyone.
“Last year it was bad. We could maneuver with several bumps. But this time, it’s like off-road driving. We had to change the vehicle because it lacked power to get down the road,” Hammond recalled.
However, he said the new vehicle, a Toyota Voxy, got stuck due to the state of the road.
“We were stuck for about two to three hours trying to maneuver the vehicle because it bottomed out, and we had to go change the vehicle back to the previous one because at least that one could get down the road,” Hammond recalled.
He explained that it meant that he and the other visitors lost a day of their vacation arranging to get up and down the Guyabois Road to and from their accommodation.
Hammond said the situation put a damper on their vacation.
“We lost a day. We planned to go to Rodney Bay. So unfortunately, because of the vehicle we got, which did not have enough power, we couldn’t go. The vehicle they swopped had the power but couldn’t get down the track, so we had to give it back,” the Yorkshire resident stated.
He said two firefighters trained to drive fire engines and off-road vehicles in the UK are part of the visiting group.
Hammond said the duo could not maneuver the vehicle down the Guyabois Road.
“That’s how bad it is,” he lamented.
“Sort it out. Think about the impact on the economy. Think about the Southerners on the Island, the impact on the local residents, and the inability to attract tourism funding to the economy to support local businesses,” was Hammond’s message to the Saint Lucia authorities.
The visitors were due to leave for home on Tuesday.
In his New Year’s address to the nation, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre said the Government would allocate significant technical and financial resources to road rehabilitation and construction.
” We will commence remedial work on roads island-wide, including the Castries Gros Islet Highway. We expect significant progress on both Lots of the Millennium Highway Project, as progress on Lot One has so far been unsatisfactory,” Pierre stated.
I, hold Bradley Felix,fully responsible for the condition of the, Road. He spent almost six years in office as the, District Representative and he did nothing to eleviate the people’s plight. It’s a shame to have the people you claimed to love living in that condition.
Bradley you should be fired for the plight of the people.
So who in charge of de road now, is not Bradley, is SLP. But then again same shit different government. All ah dem should be fired.
Bad roads means more damaged suspension parts and more fuel consumed because of slower driving. More parts means more imports. More fuel used means more fill ups. More parts imported means more duties collected by the government. More fill ups means more taxes on those sales. It is not in government interest to fix roads. They will try to do it before elections to trick y’all,
@Junior. The road did not get to that condition in 2.5 years. He was the rep under Chas administration and still he is still the rep so why wouldn’t you blame him? He should be blamed. But have no fear, the road will be repaired soon.
@the crow: how do you know the road will be done soon?
This is absolutely disgusting. I can not believe the government have neglected the residents and the tourists visiting here.
This is not a good advertisement for tourism.
If the current government showed some sympathy and helped the residents with this road I’m sure it will go a long way for votes in the elections.
So what who to be blame or held responsible. Vote for them again, you ain hearing and witnessing about putting you first. You all still behind and you all defending and voteing for the same shit heads so what do you expect to get in return, ain pure shit as tie result. The tourist should report to the BBC or trip advisor or those paid entities that giving St. Lucia accolades for tourists destination. If in such a deplorable state island wide we getting recognition and accolades what if we had top quality roads for which we spend billions for already. Pure thin crust roads we market at premium price. Enuff bullshit ..
Do u all forget SLP in opposition said people don’t eat road ? Bradley did the Saltibus road which was neglected for many years. This admin will deliberately abandon the Diabois roaf to make him look bad
I don’t why EVRYTHING for a Lucian is a politician or a parliamentary rep. ROADS BY LAW ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER. who by law is supposed to be appointed by the govenor general. Check the Road and Works Act. But we allowed KDA to rotten the public service and make ALL public servants work on contract including the chief. So the Chief Engineer does nothing unless a minster of works or infrastructure say to do, cause he/she wants their contract renewed. SO PLACE THE BLAM EON U ALL LUCIANS WHO ALLOWED KDA TO ROTTEN OUR PUBLIC SERVICE AND THE CHIEF WHO HAS NO BALLS TO DO ANYTHING AND THE MINISTER F INFRASTRCTURE WHO HAS BEEN THERE FOR 7 OR 8 YEARS. To those who point fingers at Bradley. He is out of place and be doing something illegal if he takes his own finances and rehabilitate a road owned by the govt of Lucia.
Very shortly the government will repair the road; they already stated that so why are we here for more drama of course. King just hurry and cut the temp bypass so you can close the road for repairs and shut everyone up.
Can we just fix the road already, all this politics and drama is making my head spin, its a constant bs each time you turn somewhere in this country to get what needs to be done done! Just fix the road people No one cares which party is in power we the citizen of this country would like the roads to be fixed and maintained over the duration of its lifespan. Thank you very much in advance for the fixed roads for better rides and our safety
It seems to me the current government expection the opposition to do everything in 5 years during pre and post covid. For eg. Complete hospital, fixed / maintence or constructionon all roads , airports and other infrustructure. If they had done it all before 2021 elections, what were yall supposed to do whilst in power? Same ghinv gall cking now
Correction
Same thing yall doing now.
NOTHINGGGGGG
Where is my comment SLT
Why is anyone complaining? Let us not forget “people don’t eat roads”,
@senoir, the problem in St. Lucia is that we have too many people like you and crow see everything in terms of yellow or red and not in terms of unbiased national development. In you all desperate bid to help party you all make the party look worse. Here is what: The SLP came into power in 2021. No work was done on the roads during 2022. In late 2022 the PM addressing St. Lucians in New York indicated that works were not done because the heavy rains had started early. Two or three days later the Ministry of Infrastructure sent out a press release saying the same thing. During 2023, the significant work was done on the roads but when people were complaining the PM said that 2024 would be the year for infrastructure. In keeping with this, iIn his New Year’s address to the nation, the PM said the Government would allocate significant technical and financial resources to road rehabilitation and construction. And yet you come here to state that after 2 and a half years Bradley is to be blamed. I guess he is to be blamed for all the deplorable roads around the country because no road went bad in the last 2 1/2 years. I wonder how this country can progress with short memory political hacks like you.
@The Honorable Lucian Highrade. Well said my friend, well said.
As an English person who now lives in St Lucia I am embarrassed that fellow English people have the cheek to visit a country and complain about the state of its infrastructure.
If you visit a country you accept the state of the country and what it can afford in respect of public assets.
However, I did note that the tourists were from Yorkshire which speaks volumes being a region of the U.K. that is famed for wanting “something for nothing.”
Chris, i thought Lucian High Grade nonsense took the prize followed by crow but your comment beats them into second and third places.
@Chris………that’s disgusting that you are slagging off the tourists who got stuck. Doesn’t matter which part of the UK or any part of the world they come from………they are tourists and bring money into the country.
Have you seen the latest news what these same tourists have done??? Saving a life and your complaining about tourists? Tourists keep this country in work etc.
Dear Chris Put your money where your mouth is, Drive Gais Bois Road in your own vehicle… The road is supposed to be a public highway not a river bed! Read all the articles relating to the road and then you may just be able to comprehend the situation faced by locals and tourists alike…
Not everything is Red or Yellow… we have to remember that the Government is not responsible for every single road in SLU…. it is time the developers start getting blamed to, because they sell the land for so much money and are supposed to put the the infrastructure in place including water, electricity and roads…we live in a tropical climate, how on earth do you expect a dirt road to hold up?!
Furthermore, if the government used taxpayers money to construct a carpet road in an area with a handful of houses, we would complain about it even more. Remember the government is supposed to cater to the majority and not select few…it is not a profit making entity and so have to use resources efficiently and effectively.
At least, that’s how an ethical government should be run. Can’t say that either administration is though. But I strongly believe in not blaming JUST the government in certain situations. However, I do agree that the road is in dire need of repair.
That’s my two cents on the matter.
Well Chris you can drive from the Vieux Fort gap up Gais Bois Road up to Saltibus , please film your travels. Also don’t have a go at the locals who are fighting for the repairs to the road. Small minded
Those above who want to lay blame at Bradley Felix either they don’t know the area or conveniently chose to mislead the public in trying to protect the victory 15 of the last 25 years who was the district rep for choiseul and should I add the 5 years Rufus spent under the leadership of king.Bradley promised the people a paved road which they have not had from adult suffrage of which he was well underway to delivering covid stop the progress but was still able to deliver phase 1 from the saltibus main road to giasbois .phase 2 was supposed to continue from there to tet morne .the question to be asked is what happened to phase 2 .please refer the question to the same individual who was responsible under uwp and is now responsible under slp [kiig].and may I add if king was not busy sabotaging the uwp government both phase 1 and 2 would have been completed
Responding to a comment by someone who called themselves “Senior”.
First, Bradley spent 5 years, one month, and three weeks in office under the previous administration, and not six years as you stated. During that time, he was able to completely rehabilitate the Saltibus road plus did remedial work on the roads at Darban, Jertrine, and Balca. He surfaced a section of the road at Gayabois in concrete. That is a fact, so please do not attempt to mislead.
The new administration has been in office for 2 years and 5 months, almost half of the term and it has not allocated funds for the completion of the repairs to the roads at Gayabois. That is a fact. How can Bradly be the one to blame?
Since 1997, (almost 27 years) SLP has spent 17 and half years in government. Dr. Kenny D Anthony was the Prime Minister, he was also the Minister of Finance for 15 years. He comes from the Gayabois office, why didn’t he gift his home community a good road? Philip J Pierre was the Minister of Infrastructure between 2011 and 2016, why didn’t he repair the roads in the Saltibus region including Gayabois?
Bradly has done the most work on the road infrastructure in the Saltibus region, in terms of aggregate mileage of roads rehabilitated and amount of money expended (over $20 million) than any other Choiseul-Saltibus Parliamentarian. If the UWP had not been removed from office our road network including the road at Gayabois would be in the desirable state that it is in.
Shame on Philip Pierre, Stephenson King, and the SLP administration for allowing our road network to descend into such an atrocious condition.
Well said Jimmy. Most of the other contributors are not from Guyabois or have ever been to Guyabois or Saltibus. In the short time that Bradley was the MP and in power, his efforts led to the government repairing the Saltibus road to an extremely high standard – even almost 3 years later, the road surface is still excellent. The last government also repaired the Darban and Jetrine roads. Phase 1 of the Guyabois road was completed and plans were in place for phase 2. Almost 3 years later it still has not been completed. Note that when these roads were being completed, there was a lot of criticism on the focus on roads. Furthermore, in terms of cost benefit analysis and numbers of individuals being served by the roads, the Guyabois road would be almost at the bottom on the list of priorities in the district. I am not saying that it should not be prioritised but that is the reality in an country with limited resources.
While I have some sympathy for the tourists, you must also research the places that you stay and make appropriate provisions. I have been in many areas in England where the roads are very bad and many people are complaining. In fact, the Saltibus road is a lot better than many urban / semi urban roads in the UK.
Fed up
If as stated the tourists were from Yorkshire you can bet that they came looking to get more for their money than they were willing to pay.
They seem to forget their own saying “you don’t get owt for nowt”
1. These roads are not safe for anyone – accidents waiting to happen
2. In addition it’s very embarrassing to promote tourism with these catastrophic roads – just saying.
All these fools trying to cover for Brush and Comb Bradley. When Carrol King wrote you’re so vain she must have foresee this fool .