Parliamentary Representative for the St Joseph Constituency, Kelver Darroux has described the construction and completion of the $11-million Yorke Valley Bridge as a very important project for the communities of St Joseph, Layou and by extension Dominica.
He was addressing the official opening and handing over of the bridge, which was funded by the government of China, last Friday.
This marks the first phase of an ongoing plan for continued development of the Layou Valley which will bring the improvement of the road network and river protection works, he said.
“The Yorke Valley Bridge Project is a very important project for the communities of St Joseph, Layou, Layou Park and by extension the entire Dominica communities,” he said. “And I say that because over the last few years during the construction of this bridge, we’ve had tremendous support from the Government of the People’s Republic of China for one, being a significant partner towards the development of this bridge and also for standing with us through very difficult times.”
He said he was very pleased and elated with the construction and the completion of the bridge and to have the bridge formerly handed over to the government of Dominica because he understood the difficulties that many farmers had to go through over the last few years in seeking an alternate route to access their farms.
“This route takes them to their farms in a more timely manner and it also provides them the opportunity to be able to transport their farm produce to their farms and homes, and the local markets is also a more timely fashion,” Darroux explained.
Darroux stated that he has been in constant dialogue with the farmers in the area and thanked them for their patience.
He added that he was certain that the farmers in the area will embrace the opportunity to go back to their farms and to start producing significantly again and add value towards the agricultural sector here in this country.
More importantly as well, he said the Layou Valley area has significant opportunities both for Tourism and agriculture.
“The Layou River, one of the most popular rivers in Dominica is also used widely to facilitate river tubing by some of the local companies,” Darroux stated. “And now we are having access once again to this area, I am sure that we will see an increase in tour operators using this area to accommodate the many tourists and visitors who will utilize the Layou River for river tubing opportunities.”
He encouraged everyone who will be accessing this area to take good care of the bridge and not vandalize it
“Let us cherish this because when we receive gifts we have to show appreciation,” he noted.
The Yorke Vally Bridge was destroyed during the collapse of the Mattieu Dam in 2011 and was constructed by the China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co. Ltd.
The government broke ground for construction of the Yorke Valley Bridge in October 2016.
The people who are criticizing everything positive in the country also want to hold the PM and the government responsible for their personal backwardness. What a pity.
Go and see Dr. Benji, you are very sick.
Indeed. lunacy is derived from lunar phase “full moon”.
Well said but those blue bellys useless lazy idiots cannot face the truth only propaganda from Rijock the rasher.
Dominicans have problem with their TONGUE sacre gace.
When I read this comments, I swear if DNO that making up these negative comments. Build a bridge, it wasn’t important.dont build the bridge, then the farmers of Layou And St. Joseph suffering. Alas man, give it a break and come together. It’s becoming so sickening. Bondieux, give the negativity a break and let’s build our country.
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Well done. Now time to fix the roads leading to the bridge.
Yet another death trap design is being celebrated on the island. There are no guard rails on the inside and on the edges of this bridge. Should a driver lose control of their vehicle, they will be impaled by sharp protruding metal edges, just like the recent accident on the Mero Bridge. Where are the local engineers from the Ministry of Communication and Works? Maybe they’re in a Rum Shop somewhere drinking their rum and eating the tax payer’s money, while never advancing road safety on the island.
The greatest of all accomplishments starts with one step. Some people will never be satisfied with a step, two steps, three steps, four steps…….
satisfy with a bridge after 18 years? lol
That bridge did not cost 11 million dollars. N it never will, no matter how much they try to force it down d throats of d people that actually reads d news.
Ok so the bridge is built, there is no proper access to this area. The roads are terible so am really wondering what all the horray about. These men and woman in government are just a complete waste of time. Nothing proper to show and just continues to drive this wonderful nation downwards
Good job China, we waiting on allu now to fund and build our Airport too
Nice bridge , Bad Road! What’s the idea? you drive you drive on bad roads all along then drive on a nice bridge for a few feet , then go back to the usual bad road.
This Gov’t have no idea how to run a country.
Yes Skerrit wan-a-be congratulations to the Chinese for the bridge looking forward to the repairing and refurbishing of the road so the farmers in the area can be relieved of the pain and poverty you and your DLP administration have caused them for the past 18 years.
What about the road. No mention of that. I live up in that area and the roads are terrible
I wonder if Kelvor jumped up and down on it to make sure it is a resilient bridge as Austrie did and declared the one he jumped on is Dominica’s first built resilient bridge!
Let’s see what happens when the first flood comes along!
It will wash it away just like the last flood. There are too many pinch points in these old-fashioned design for an island like ours with heavy rainfall. A Cable Suspension Bridge is long overdue in these areas. Then again, we do not have the type of leadership required to think differently about these things.
if i don’t have a 4wd vehicle cannot go to checkout this wonderful structure. A nice bridge with horrible road access on either side. Much like the members of this lazy government; they look good, dress good, well paid, but surrounded by corruption
Die -as-poor,You people are all brainless mules talking RUM shop crap pathetic little cockroaches ,Dont you idiots know it’s important that the Bridge must be built over the river before any road could be built bloody Coonumunoos. You dopes are just tribal idiots and Jealousy green eyes.
So engineers could not work on access road and bridge simultaneously? Imagine that.
Use the little brain you have dogbiter. Who says the road coul not be fixed up at the same timeas the bridge. That is one project partner because one is useless without the other. The bridge have a nice yellow line down the middle meaning you must not overstaken on the bridge but no lines on the road but potholes or missing surface. Who is the conomonu?
The bigger question is where is this bridge serving at this present time and how long will it take before this road leading to Pond Case will be fixed. I say this because i recently took a drive on this road and it is VERY VERY VERY bad!! Big drains in the middle of the road.
Reminds me of that famous film A Bridge Too Far with Robert Redford excep in this case it is A Bridge To Nowhere.
When the government does something right, they should be given commendation for it. I therefore commend the government for bringing this project to fruition that will not only benefit the immediate communities but all Dominicans. Kudos!
I give you a thumb up for that comment. Your eyes begin to open.
Bunch of bull**** ,a bridge without no roads ,just look at what they did with the Cuba road,
Except Ibo it was the Chinese who make this happen, who built it and paid for it. Thank you China.
Thank you Ido, That is what i has been saying about you. Not like the other Coonumunoos Rum drinking idiots writing crap on DNO and Facebook.
The big question: how long will it last???
How long do you wish it will last??
It won’t survive the next hurricane, that’s a fact.
Until the next flood.
I am HAPPY HAPPY with your accomplishment. Keep up the hard work, PR.
we employ these people as ministers to build roads and bridges and when a bridge or road is renovated we praise them for doing the work we employ them to do… that’s stupid and resembles a failing third world society… I could only praise them if they created significant employment and developement that could offset the -16 percent gdp growth in dominica and creating a self sustaining system that could take us in the ranks of st lucia and Antigua with regards to developement….
Dominicans are uninformed and dont read. we love politicians and are engulf in greed. for a ticket or 5000 dollals every five years we will continue to feed the guts of these corrupt politicians