– disrupts water supply
Unscrupulous miners are again wreaking havoc in Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) dredging up sections of the Salbora road and the regional administration believes that the mining officials in the area are turning a blind eye to the situation.
Suspecting collusion between miners and officials in the community, sources in the area believe the issue is not getting the attention that it should. In August last year, several sections of the same road were damaged by mining activity which forced the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to charge the guilty miners with damage to property, seize their equipment and institute a five-year ban on them.
But the commission’s action has not deterred those insistent on dredging in the area as the region has been alerted again of further damage. The matter was brought to the attention of Hydraulics Minister Robeson Benn.
The Government Information Agency (GINA), in a statement yesterday reported that Benn visited the area last Saturday and called on miners to desist from mining of the Mahdia road leading to the Salbora Creek. GINA said the appeal from Benn came in the wake of reports from the regional administration that miners were digging up the road in their quest for gold. It also said the incident has disrupted water supply in the upper Mahdia area as pipelines were damaged in the process.
Regional Information Officer Daniel Fraser told Stabroek News yesterday that last week Regional Chairman Senor Bell and a contingent of police visited the area and a few small dredges were seized. He said it is believed that the miners dredge illegally at night and by the time the police from Georgetown enter into the community they are notified by members of the community and have enough time to leave. Fraser said the matter was not getting the around-the-clock vigilance it needed. He added that the issue was hampering the thrust of development for the regional administration. He recalled the same situation back in August last year where several sections of the same road were severely damaged and pipelines broken, affecting hundreds of families in that and neighbouring communities.
This recent incident, he said, also affected water supply to residents, though Mahdia businessman Roger Hinds took it upon himself to stand the expense for repairs, bringing some relief to the residents with the region’s permission.
Meanwhile, reliable sources have since told Stabroek News that GGMC officials in the area who should be more alert to the matters deliberately turn a ‘blind eye’ since many of them were befriended by miners. The source said it was strange that none of the officials recognized that the illegal mining operations were occurring before this was brought to the region’s attention. The source posited that something needed to be done to ensure that the mines officers do their work, since like the last occasion, “they never know”.
“You can’t tell me that they don’t know what’s going on and that’s their job, they are supposed to know. Even if they don’t know right away, they must realize. But they never know,” the source pointed out.
Acting Commissioner of the GGMC, William Woolford could not be contacted for comment yesterday and his secretary informed that he was out of the office for an “all-day” meeting.
In an advertisement published in January this year, the GGMC identified the miners responsible for the earlier damage to Salbora road and pipelines. The damaged pipelines constituted the distribution system of the $50M Salbora Water Project. In addition to the pipelines which supplied potable water to surrounding communities with about 1,200 people, the gold and diamond miners also destroyed several stretches of the Mahdia road.
Woolford said at the time that the Commission was also looking to recover the cost of the road from the miners, who were to appear in court. Nothing was ever heard from the commission as to whether the men had actually appeared in court and contributed to the repairs of the road. However, this newspaper was told that GGMC had given an undisclosed sum of money to the Guyana Water Incorporated to effect repairs to the ruptured Salbora water system. Stabroek News understands that the road remains in a deplorable condition but with diversions, which still allow for some amount of road traffic.
