Repair work has started on this drain near Old Hope Road and Caledonia Avenue in Cross Roads, St. Andrew, following the highlighting of this and other damaged drains and manholes in a feature article 'Drain pains', which appeared in The Gleaner on Monday, July 2. - Norman Grindley

AS PART of our mission to be the People Paper, THE WEEKEND STAR has been highlighting problem areas across the island. Our reporter, Carolyn Johnson, along with photographer Norman Grindley, will focus on a particular area until the problem is fixed. Now we will have a rough idea of how long the relevant authorities take to deal with some of the problems affecting our country.

This week, I am forced to start a discussion I was really trying to avoid, that of downtown versus uptown.

I have been wondering for months now if the problems we are featuring have been ignored because of their location: downtown.

Broken light

Our longstanding problem, the broken traffic light at the intersection of Industrial Terrace and Spanish Town Road, in front the Denham Town Police Station, has been out for more than a year. We have been told by the National Works Agency (NWA) that it is in need of underground wiring and other parts that have been ordered from overseas. But unless these parts are coming from Pluto, I cannot understand why they have not yet reached Jamaica.

Nor, can I understand why the agency could not simply install a new system when there are many popping up a dime a dozen around the Corporate Area, in places, that in my estimation, do not need them. I also fail to understand why so many traffic lights are out downtown, specifically to the east of the St. Grant William Park. (You see, I'm just a writer, not a technician, so excuse my ignorance.)

Across the road to the west and north of the park are open manholes which we have been featuring for more than three months. Nothing has been done about these. That is nothing from the NWA, yet persons around the area who recognise the danger have put crates and pieces of zinc over the holes.

Manhole

Further up the road on King Street, is another open manhole that is taking up an entire lane for itself. Again, concerned residents have posted a concrete column with a red bucket to warn unsuspecting motorists of the danger the hole poses - a danger the NWA, seems to have neglected.

But recent events have proved my theory to be true. In 'Drain Pains', published in The Gleaner on Monday, July 2, 2007, Stephen Shaw, communication and customer-service manager at the NWA, incredibly, said he had no knowledge of the manholes at the St. William Grant Park.

This comes as a shock since Shaw has commented on them before. Yet, what is understandable is his comment to The Gleaner on Friday that it had been "a while" since he had visited these areas". The areas he refers to are the open holes - pictures of which were carried in THE STAR - at the St. William Grant Park, Spanish Town Road, King Street, New Cross Street, North Street and Orange Street.