The Andrew Holness led administration has announced plans to forego the leg of the south coast highway through St. Thomas. This project was hoped to bring to the eastern end of the island increased investment and with it improved job opportunities and standard of living for people in St. Thomas and Portland.

For years we have seen the resources of St. Thomas being trucked out to other parishes and in some cases internationally (via barges) to build other areas; shouldn't these resources be working for St. Thomas? The pages of Instagram and other social sites abound with picturesque scenes of St. Thomas to include Rozelle Falls, Reggae Falls, Bath Fountain to name a few; how does one market the beauty of St. Thomas when there is no road to get there? The ability to move goods and people drives your economy and keeps the wheels of production turning and a good road network is pivotal to our success as a people.

Join us in petitioning our government to rethink and give St. Thomas a chance to make itself great again.

NB. The donation request is optional and there is no payment required to sign.

Since this petition was started there has been some new developments as the government has advised that the project will go on. Despite this 180 degree turn we want to continue with this petition as the politics of our time may prove some chicanery on the part of our leaders. St. Thomas will stand in the spirit of Paul Bogle and ensure we see this to the end.

• Today we fight for the assurance of us getting proper roads into our parish
• Tomorrow we take it up a notch, demanding timelines

Let us ensure that St. Thomas is never forgotten; let us rise up with the strength of Paul Bogle but this time with a legal rebellion. We fight to build St. Thomas not just for ourselves but for our children and generations to come.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20160616/pm-confirms-south-coast-highway-plan-scrapped-unveils-better-option