“An accident waiting to happen” is how residents of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara describe the main access bridge to their community of over 1,000 homes.
Taxis, trucks and a host of other vehicles use the bridge, which is in need of urgent repairs, to gain access to the huge community.
Overseer of the Mon Repos/Annandale Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) which has jurisdiction for the area, told Stabroek News that the NDC has written letters to the ministries of Local Government and Public Works on the issue. The overseer explained that while the NDC received a number of complaints from residents, the cost to replace the bridge was way over what the NDC could do at that level. The overseer said it was not a question of repairs, which the NDC would have undertaken, but that the bridge needed to be rebuilt and the NDC did not have the finance to handle that.
The overseer also told this newspaper that taxes were not being collected in that area as yet. Contacted, Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn told this newspaper that he would look into the matter although it did not specifically concern his ministry.
Meanwhile, Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall told Stabroek News that he recalled the NDC’s request for help in the matter. However, he said, the bridge was not included in this year’s budget and that made it difficult to acquire the funds for the necessary work to be done. He said that in these cases the matter was made a priority on the budget the following year. In the meantime, Lall said, he would discuss the matter with his Public Works counterpart.
Stabroek News paid a visit to the area on Monday and took a chance on crossing the bridge to get to the residents. Driving across with any speed is dangerous as the loose boards are liable to fly up into the air. These boards rumble as vehicles go over them, giving the impression that the bridge is going to collapse any moment. Meanwhile, pedestrians dare not cross at the same time as a vehicle as they could possibly be hit by a loose board, or fall into the trench through a space created by the moving boards.
Although residents of the area agree that the bridge is in need of urgent repairs they have mixed views about who should fix the bridge.
A taxi driver who works the area everyday admits to the danger the bridge poses and is of the opinion that the government should fix the bridge. Expressing himself very emphatically the driver said “they waiting for another Providence to happen before deh do something,” he said referring to the accident at the New Providence Bridge which took the life of one person and seriously injured another, when the dilapidated bridge collapsed under the weight of a Toolsie Persaud cement truck several months ago. The driver said a lot of taxi drivers make a living in the highly populated area which is a far way from the main public road and as such they need to use the bridge.
A soon-to-be resident of the area, told this newspaper that he encountered problems with the trucks transporting building materials to his house, currently under construction. The truck drivers had shown reluctance to cross the bridge to deliver the materials after seeing its condition.
According to the man, the structure of the bridge is in good condition but the “cross straps” needed to be replaced.
A carpenter working in the area said that after the 2005 Great Flood, the bridge was repaired with millions being spent. He said the spikes which were used to hold the boards down came out and opined that bolts and nuts be used in the next instance.
Another resident, A. Mohammed, said the taxi drivers and other vehicle owners should “come together and build the bridge.” Mohammed said she did not believer the onus was on the government to build the bridge since residents do not pay taxes as yet.
A furniture maker in the community differed, saying that despite the absence of tax collection, the government should fix the bridge since it would start to collect taxes from the community next year.
Another taxi driver told Stabroek News that the bridge was originally built by AH&L Kissoon, which has a housing scheme to the east of the community. This driver also said that the government should rehabilitate the bridge.
A shopkeeper would only say that the bridge needed urgent attention. “How long people talking about it and nobody ain’t doing nothing,” she said. She, too, was of the opinion that something drastic had to happen before something was done.