Mather disputes government’s road claims
Territorial At-Large Representative Stacy Mather has challenged the government’s claims that road repairs across the Virgin Islands have been properly completed.
Speaking during a recent broadcast of The Alliance radio show, Mather criticised Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley’s assertion that major road improvements had transformed travel throughout the territory. Mather argued that the reality for residents was far different.
“What about the Third District? You drive through there recently?” Mather asked, challenging official statements. “The Premier in the House of Assembly last year said, I think it was October, by the end of December from [Road] Town going west, he’s going to pave it. I still waiting.”
Premier Wheatley had earlier praised completed works in areas such as Joe’s Hill, Waterfront Drive, and the East End road leading to the airport, describing the improvements as making “a tremendous difference” to transportation. However, he cautioned that there were still many other areas that needed to be addressed.
“Persons landing at the airport, they have a much smoother ride going into the east, you know, when before it was a bit bumpy,” Dr Wheatley said on the Virgin Islands Voice radio show. “That’s when they were talking about braggadam, braggadam, braggadam. So we’re not hearing as much braggadam when we fly now these days.”
Mather insisted that the problems persist. “Which part of the island is braggadam done? People here changing the front end of the vehicles, ball joints, suspension, everything is still changing,” he stated, pointing to ongoing damage to vehicles caused by poor road conditions. “And they do not have the privilege of some of the members of the House of Assembly. They (HOA members) have two vehicles, three vehicles. They have a driver, they have a private vehicle.”
Mather also questioned why basic road repairs were being celebrated as extraordinary accomplishments. “Have we even touched this $100 million loan to do these road repairs?” he asked. “Or did we find the money somewhere?”
Referring to previous conditions at Joe’s Hill, Mather added, “Joe’s Hill, it is smooth now, but Joe’s Hill used to be like that in the 90s. So now we are clapping for people doing their job?”
Residents have long voiced frustrations about the state of the roads, with many reporting daily struggles to navigate potholes and uneven surfaces.
Mather underscored that residents, unlike elected officials, bore the financial burden. “If [legislators] need gas, if they need parts, they park it up and they go again. We have to be fair to our people,” he asserted.
Copyright 2025 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
Thanks Stacy. What P487 says is a joke. Anyone travelled on the Ridge Road recently or tried to go East or West by Hodges Creek for the last few months, whilst we give away money to his friends Northam.
Try getting to any one of our beaches and the roads are treacherous.
P487 must be travelling on a donkey with his eyes shut.
I see a couple of driveways have new asphalt though!
S!0wW@nde and his bad math again. When he adds up what has been spent it comes up to 100 million. Clearly 100 million has not been spent on roads, They appear to have used the money for other things. Probably their own pay increases and pensions etc etc. S!0wW@nde need to resign as minister of finance
Natalio strikes again, math don’t mean nothing yo this man. Who pays for a concert with government money with no regard on how many people it will take to break even or that one concert can’t fix the ongoing challenges to our economy. They never provided a real breakdown of how they arrived at 100 million, it sounded like Natalio pulled his finger out and stuck it in the air
Thank you Mather for calling out the blatant foolishness like we dnt have eyes to see. if you look at Prospect Reef to West End Ferry dock a mere 10% if that much of the road got paved because it stop by New Life…..wat happen to the rest of the way. These ppl really have to cut the nonsense now!
This young lady blogging under ever Alliance story thinks she is fooling anybody? The Alliance are all NDP members until they form a party, that is fact!
Them fix the road fast without the proper engineering work yall make noise. They take their time to do it trying to make sure it can last we a bit longer yall make noise. sick ah awyo
Proper Engineering in Hodges. Have you seen that mess. They only own one traffic cone. These are not professionals. More like Friends and Relatives Construction (We Give Kickbacks) inc. (Again)
Did the Premier really say “we don’t hear much braggadam now when we fly”?
What really matters to Mather? What are the policies, initiatives that he would like to see? Does he have any solid plans for the Territory? As a voter I’m being very serious here. Everyone can sit around talking talking but where is the substance? Mather started ‘Minute with Mather’ where he would highlight the things he’s passionate about and keep the people informed. He did 2 or 3 episodes and that was it. Are these people really interested in representing the people of the Territory or the perks of having ‘Hon.’ before their names and the greedy package that comes after 2 terms? As an Educator I’ve yet to hear one thing from Mather on that topic. NO, I don’t mean him bashing Hon. de Castro, I mean putting forward details suggestions, plans, make them public, get on the radio, be the same passionate candidate that you were on the PVIM campaign trail. It is disappointing to wake up and see negativity all around with nothing of substance being done.