Residents of Phase One, South Amelia’s Ward are protesting over the deplorable state of their roads by setting up blockades to halt the flow of traffic through the area.
According to the residents they hope to send a strong message to the local authority to get them to address the problem.
Wednesday night residents of the 36-year-old community blockedthree entrance points using large trees, old tires and rubble to protest against the inaction of the local authority.
“We had enough, we have even become the mocking stock of taxi drivers,” said Paula Duncan, a resident of the community for almost thirty years.
Echoing the views of other residents the woman complained about the level of neglect of South Amelia’s Ward.
Repeated representation had been made by residents to have some level of repairs done to the road but they have been ignored. They said that since the road was constructed more than thirty-five years ago no rehabilitation or maintenance was done to it.
They said further that over the years residents have taken the initiative of maintaining the road by filling in potholes with cement blocks.
Residents said that on many occasions they came together and had the roads in the area resurfaced.
Residents are claiming that the regional authorities had promised to have some works done during December last year but this never materialized.
“We fed up now and we mean they must do something now or we ain’t opening up back this road,” said residents.
They compared the recently-developed Lover’s Lane section of Amelia’s Ward to theirs and expressed the feeling that they are being neglected.
“We are like the forgotten city but we can’t take that no more. If we ain’t pay our light or water bills they cut us off, if we don’t pay our taxes they would embarrass us and put us on TV, we meeting our obligations so they must fulfill their obligations to us too.”
Many residents said that reality set in when they decided to step into the several potholes and found that many are about knee high.
In the meantime, taxi drivers and visitors to the area have given the roads names such as “Grand Canyon and Mabura Road Big Sister”.
Businesses in the area have been affected also since customers have been refusing to go to the area.
Residents said yesterday they were advised once again to approach the local authorities. They said that they were told that the roads in the area are slated for repairs soon but they said that they would not be moving the blockades unless they see signs of physical progress. And they are threatening to block other entrances to the community to send a stronger signal that they really mean business.
With the current rainy weather on, the roads in South Amelia’s Ward have gotten worse, and with school being out residents said that they have to be even more watchful over little children who could drown when playing in the water in some of the holes which are very deep.
