Opposition leader Allen Chastanetr has cast doubt on the Government’s ability to satisfactorily fix the country’s deteriorating road network despite a declaration that 2024 would be the year for infrastructure.
In his New Year’s Address to the nation, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre promised the allocation of ‘significant technical and financial resources’ to road rehabilitation.
Pierre said remedial work would begin on roads Islandwide.
But Chastanet told DBS Television that under his leadership as Prime Minister, the United Workers Party (UWP) administration spent nearly half a billion dollars maintaining the existing road network.
However, he indicated that the Pierre Government would face challenges due to inflation, supply chain, and other issues in delivering on its 2024 road rehabilitation promise.
The Micoud South MP said he was concerned about how the Government managed the Millennium Highway.
He described the project as a ‘colossal disaster’.
“I don’t know where the deficiency is,” Chastanet stated.
He questioned whether the problem lay with his former Infrastructure Minister Stephenson King, whose ‘incapacity’ was showing.
King quit the then ruling UWP to run as an independent in the July 26, 2021, general elections.
He retained his Castries North seat, and joined the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) Cabinet after the party’s landslide victory.
He is currently the Senior Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Ports, Transport, Physical Development, and Urban Renewal.
Chastanet also questioned whether Prime Minister Pierre, a former Infrastructure Minister, was giving King the needed resources.
In addition, he wondered if the politics of putting ‘square pegs in round holes’ was the reason for the current situation with the road network.
“This Government has not shown any capacity to maintain the existing roads, far less build new roads,” Chastanet told DBS Television’s Lissa Joseph.
We don’t have roads anymore. We have obstacle courses that are destroying our vehicles! And when is the Gros Islet highway going to be finished??? It is so dangerous, and unsightly for tourists! The Beausejour road is horrendous! Need I go on?
Chas, you are a triangle in a rectangular hole. And SLP ain’t not different. Sack all ah dem politrixters.
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,
We are destined to fail due to our incompetence and stupidity. Half a billion dollars plus in the last 6 years and few good roads remaining according to some. Are we using inferior materials and workmanship with these projects? Seems like we are throwing good money after bad results. You cannot keep building roads with materials and ideas that do not meet standards and expect the roads to last more than a year or two. Do it right the first time to not have to revisit what was done recently. Pay for quality and not quantity. We keep doing things on the cheap and expect miracles
Chastanet in your own words, you spend half a billion dollars on roads. Now Chastanet tell me, doesn’t your statement show your incompetence because, in less than three years almost all the road network on the island have gone bad. It tell of your lack of stewardship.
I am betting all my money that by December 2025, roads will still be a major problem. To understand my reason for saying this, is to understand the conditions that presently exist. I wish my country no harm, but I am a realist.
For starters, there has to be a paradigm shift in thinking which King is incapable of doing, considering he has been churning out crappy roads from the begining of time. His thin-crust roads are not the solution to the problem. The old solutions are no longer sustainable. Vehicles are heaver than ever. Tire technology has improved resulting in better grip of the road. Then, there are more vehicles than ever on the island resulting in more traffick. King has to pivot in order to be successful.
King has to construct roads with better soil base that will not shift during traffick and that means accompanying thicker asphalt. Are they going to spend extra money for ensuring drainage of each road? Smooth roads last longer than textured ones. The textured ones tend to make vehicles bounce which in turn starts road deterioration.
The ministry’s approach to maintenance tells all. By allowing potholes in the roads, they allow water infiltration into the bottom layers that eventually weakens the road. The average life of a very good road is 20-25 years. If you think the “Year of Infrastructure” will give you that, then you are ripe for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
This joker again….. for all who will push their hand in fire for this head clown remember he spent ECD$ 20 million to pave a quarter mile of roadway up north…. And now he chatting how much the u worthless pees did while in office ?? I live on a roadway of which alllll work was stopped the very first day they MISTAKENLY came into office so get the hell out of here with your crap, amnesia only serves those who choose to have it.. The Honorable KDA complained blatantly in an open letter about it and ask why they did no see fitting to finish the project since it was almost complete. His plea was lambasted (the norm) on this very forum by paid aggregators and rabble rousers(they know themselves classic village idiots). the five blasted years of yellow terror the road was never completed the unfinished part was worst than Choiseul and it would not have cost a million dollars to complete pure wickedness by the regime. So I don’t know what this fool is talking about VF TO DATE saw no road restoration work during his reign of terror
Chas let Lucians in their mess..my goodness Castries smell the roads are deplorable..st Lucian’s stop voting for man color or party not even a birth certificate you can get in st Lucia..like nothing not right and some people are so angry l
@Miracle I couldn’t have said it better. If all that money was spent efficiently on materials, planning abc and resources the roads would not be in this mess. The cycle will always continue due to insane people holding leadership positions. And I’m talking insanity by mere definition of doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Where is the accountability for those projects? Everyone can see inferior products are being used by inferior Human Resources! Do better!!!!
@Gidso. How many of the resurfaced roads built by Allen Chastanet have deteriorated? PJP should have continued the resurfacing of the bad/important roads eg the Mellinium and the Castries/Gros Islet highway while temporarily blocking the holes that were bad for subsequent resurfacing.
it still baffles me that people including CHas talking about ministers fixing roads.
No minsster can design nay road
No minster can supervise any road project
No minster has a construction company and
No minster is a trained civil engineer.
The Chief Engineer is responsible to rehabilitate, maintain and design roads in this country according to our laws. The fact that Chas, PJP, King, Kenson think and feel they can fix roads is exactly why we in this mess with our roads. Chas spent half a billion and yet still EVERYDAY i drive on not 1 good piece of road,
So Chastanet if you terminate an employee at coco palm will you rehire that person, so after the people fired you 15 to 2 will they rehire you in 26
Correction: traffic.
I laughed at some of the comments I read because I use some of the roads especially in the Gros Islet region that were rebuilt or resurfaced during the last administration and they are still in very good condition. I also drive on a recently paved St Jude’s Highway done by this administration and the condition is worse than these roads that the hacks are talking about. We are all St Lucians so you don’t have to take what I say as fact, just take a drive for yourself and you will agree with me.
One needs to realize that no amount of money supposedly spent on roads make the quality any better. Because of partisan governance, contracts are given to the undeserving and unqualified . They are given on the basis of party affiliation. In most cases when there is some semblance of qualification, greed becomes the culprit. Shut cuts are made which nullifies quality in your order to steal the dough. In any given government construction contract , from the issuer to the receiver are guaranteed to be on the borbol list. Even the workers who almost always feel short paid, will snatch anything they can to make up for the shortages. What do we end up with. Shabby roads ! Both political parties are culpable.
Re Article! I agree with the x PM and the squweekey wheel gets the greese….
Folks! He is the messenger and stop shooting the messenger.. He should challenge the end to slave wages system and implement a fair living wage system of $10+ per hour based on hours worked to everyone and only then he can be King again…
Let’s Fix all at the same time…
If we pay the workers a decent minimum wage of $10+ per hour based on hours worked, we will be in a better position financially and All of us workers will have a purchasing power to create employment and move the island forward…. Abolish the slave wages system now..
Chas how much of the half billion dollars you spent on fixing roads actually fixed roads? There are certain road technicians who actually built houses to rent on this money you talked about.
Now I strongly believed Pierre will repair the roads satisfactory. There will be no Guy to push hand in the coffer.
The road networks will not improve because of the underlying subbase. Unless the government is willing to invest billions of dollars in using base concrete for the road subbase the problems will not be resolved. Clay soil can expand and contract due to the moisture content, and as a result, this can play havoc on any road network.
Chastanet on the other hand doesn’t know what the hell is he talking about as usual. The road problems are more of an engineering one than a political one. One of the solutions is to build the roads on boulders and concrete bases. Albeit, a costly operation but a beneficial one.