Retaining wall collapsing weeks after construction in Hagley Gap

$19-m waste

BY INGRID BROWN, Associate editor — special assignment, browni@jamaicaobserver.com, Monday, July 06, 2015, Source

RESIDENTS of Hagley Gap in St Thomas are demanding to be told why a multimillion dollar retaining wall, the contract for which was awarded by the St Thomas Parish Council, began collapsing within weeks of being constructed. The wall was constructed last August at a cost of approximately $19.5 million.

According to residents who spoke with the Jamaica Observer North East, someone should be held responsible for footing the cost of rebuilding the wall which, had it been properly built, would have been able to withstand heavy rains and would not have collapsed within weeks.

“Taxpayers’ money can’t just guh so. Yuh mean fi tell mi say wi must find another however much million dollar to pay another contractor fi come build another wall?” one man questioned.

The residents also pointed to the danger that the collapsed wall poses to people travelling along the road. A sign warning of falling debris from the crumpling wall has been erected along the road, but residents say this is far from adequate.

“Big chunks of the wall keep sliding down into the road and I guess them waiting until the entire thing collapse pon somebody and kill them before something is done,” an elderly resident argued.

The senior citizen said the best option may be to have the retaining wall totally demolished ahead of the rainy season.

If this is not done, the resident warned, it will come crashing down and block off the main thoroughfare, probably injuring people in the process. “Is pure foolishness them do with taxpayers’ money all the while and this needs to stop,” he said. Councillor Marsha Francis (PNP, Cedar Valley Division) admitted that the wall collapsed two months after construction, following heavy rains, but said it was still not clear what caused this to happen.

“There is no blame on anyone because it seems to be just a design flaw,” Francis said. The Observer North East has, however, been reliably informed that the wall is now the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Contractor General Francis, a former mayor of Morant Bay, said before the wall can be rebuilt further investigations need to be done to determine what went wrong.

“The local government is eager for it to be reconstructed and we are doing our due diligence to ensure it is done soon,” she said.