Commentary

Improve the drain system

HURRICANE DENNIS HAS passed and stories of the damage that it caused has been dominating the news for the last three days. One thing that has come to the fore since Hurricane Dennis brushed our island is that more needs to be done to address the problem of infrastructure maintenance.

The reports in the media have hinted that in many of the areas flooding was caused by poor construction of drains, housing schemes, bridges etc.. In some cases, poor maintenance was the reason given for the flooding of various areas.

Although no one will ever take responsibility for the lack of maintenance of these infrastructures, one hopes that lessons will be learnt from the Hurricane Dennis experience.

One of the lessons that has been taught is that infrastructure maintenance should be an ongoing project instead of once yearly, or every two years when someone's property is wrecked by floodwater. Another lesson is that developers and Government alike should ensure that the proper building codes are followed when projects are to be constructed.

It would be unfortunate if there is another hurricane or tropical storm this season and the problems that Hurricane Dennis brought to our attention were still haunting us.