THE EDITOR, Sir:

The Jamaica Information Service recently reported that the spotlight would be on the parish of St. Thomas from December 3 to 9, when the St. Thomas Heritage and Tourism Committee and the United States-based philanthropic organisation Upliftment Jamaica, host the 'Cum Bak Ya' investment and trade fair in the parish.

The forgotten parish

This, of course, was quite a commendable venture that should only be praised and encouraged, particularly as St. Thomas, in many respects, can accurately be described as 'the forgotten parish'. It truly is in need of economic development and job creation.

To my mind, however, the first step that should be taken to assist in any development initiative for the parish is to provide proper roads for prospective investors and others to use to enter and leave the parish.

They were in a deplorable state before the heavy rains, and have become even more so in the weeks after the rains. And it is not just that erosion of the road surfaces that I am talking about.

Jamaica must be one of the few countries in the modern world where one has to cross a stream when using the main route to get into a parish. In this age of technological advancement, can't the National Works Agency construct some kind of bridge and/or culvert in the Eleven Miles area so that motorists do not have to ford this stream? Additionally, construction of a new bridge at the Yallahs ford seems to be taking an unduly long time.

Why invest?

Why should investors bother to travel to St. Thomas when the roads to St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth and other parishes are much better?

It seems obvious to me that immediate road-rehabilitation work should be the first item on the agenda of any development initiative for the parish.

To do otherwise would be to put the proverbial cart before the horse and be an exercise in futility.

I am, etc.,

CONCERNED CITIZEN

St. Thomas