Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has warned motorists and the public-at-large to expect significant disruption in traffic along the Grand Anse main road within the coming weeks.
Speaking in Parliament last Tuesday on the 2025 Budget Debate, the prime Minister said that the entire Grand Anse road needs to be totally resurfaced from as far as the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA).
He told legislators that the congress government wanted to resurface Grand Anse since last year but because of the British-funded Southern Water and Sewerage project it had to be delayed.
He said that new pipes will have to be laid and it is hopeful that the project including the laying of the pipes can start in April and run for a 9-month period.
“So there is going to be significant inconvenience along the Grand Anse main road if it starts in April for the next 9-10 months before we could resurface the entire route,’ he added.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell announced that the government intends to resurface the entire Eastern Main Road from MBIA to the Sugarmill roundabout and then to Woodlands around the area called “Stinky Bridge” which is just before the Sugar factory.
In addition, he said that the Woburn road will have to get some work after all the heavy traffic passing through the area with the closure of the road between the Cliff and Woodlands.
According to the Grenadian leader, the government will have to find an estimated EC$20 million to do the road network from Woburn to the Cliff.
“To rip the road up, build sidewalks and to get us up to say Egmont Point is going to get us into $100 million,” he said.
The Prime Minister spoke of a new initiative that the government is working towards to address road construction on the island due to the problem of significant capacity issues.
He said that a possible solution is an agreement reached with the Ministry of Finance to “put out Best Expression of Interest” inviting private persons to express interest in financing, designing, building, and maintaining the roads.
“So we are going to say to someone, if you bring your financing and the terms are favourable and we go through a procurement process then we are going to ask you to go.
“What has happened in the past is that people have gotten contracts for the roads and there is no maintenance aspect of it.”
In addition the Prime Minister alluded to the fact that the annual budget presented in Parliament makes no provisions for the cost of maintaining the roads.
