The Linden to Lethem road is passable, Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn says even as Rupununi residents are bracing for hardships as trucks transporting supplies and fuel are unable to traverse sections of the vital artery.
Over the past few days, high levels of water from continuing heavy rains have covered sections of the road, degrading some parts. While Regional Chairman, Clarindo Lucas has said that the situation will not have any adverse effect on activities in the area, Lethem residents told Stabroek News yesterday that heavy vehicles transporting fuel and food supplies have been unable to traverse flooded sections of the roadway including a section along the Hunt Oil Stretch, located some 40 miles from Lethem. However, the smaller vehicles are able to traverse the area but this is at an added cost while the trip takes more time. That area is said to be swampy with limited or no alternatives for drainage.
In an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA), reacting to newspaper reports yesterday including one in Stabroek News, Benn denied that the road was impassable. “The report is inaccurate; at this point in time the road is passable.
Our engineers visited that area, one of them came through the area from Lethem. The travel time of the road is in fact 12 hours instead of the eight to 10 hours which we were able to achieve two years ago,” he said. A GINA report quoted Benn as saying that the flooding in sections of the roadway is as a result of heavy rainfall in the mountainous areas of North and West of Meritezero. At some sections the water is six inches and “at worse”, a foot, he said.
Meantime, the ongoing situation is having an adverse effect on the larger vehicles which use the road as money has to be sourced to replace damaged parts, persons in the area said yesterday.
A Lethem resident told Stabroek News that the authorities should consider implementing, “a more workable programme” to maintain the road as annual periods of rainfall usually create “problems” for vehicles traversing the roadway.
Water has been flowing across the road along the Hunt Oil Stretch while the surrounding swampy areas close to the road are under water. The road has been a cause of concern for residents with rainy weather being a major factor in the current state of the road. Several companies would maintain sections of the road, in their own, interest but premier responsibility for maintenance rest with the Works Ministry. Mekdeci Mining Company (MMC) is usually contracted to maintain sections of the road.
This newspaper was told yesterday that in addition to the Hunt Oil Stretch, other affected parts of the roadway include a section near to Meritezero and parts of a double bridge located some 40 miles north of the Kurupukari Crossing in the Essequibo.
Another section of the road near to an area called Corkwood, close to the Iwokrama rainforest reserve is reportedly also in a deteriorating state.
This was confirmed by Benn. According to GINA, he said that there is “difficulty” with one of the bridges and some sections of the road in the Iwokrama area are muddy. “We have contractors in the area; Dalip (contractor) is on standby in the Lethem area to restore any section of the road that may be breached. We are awaiting the opportunity to place culverts when the water subsides,” the minister was quoted as saying.
GINA reported that he further said that MMC will be working in the Iwokrama forested area which has difficulty with large craters as a result of churning up of a muddy section. Additionally, DTL Concession holders have now been given a contract to repair a bridge that has been damaged as a result of trucks running off the sides rather than along the support section of the structure.
Benn in noting that the major bus operator, Intraserv has suspended its service; said that perhaps owing to the slushiness of the roadway the operator may not want to operate, GINA reported. He also said that the Ministry of Public Works and Communications was advised of the possibility of La Nina conditions continuing for the next month or more in the Rupununi Savannah areas and in the mid-hinterland sections of the country. These conditions (heavy rainfall) do not recognise geographic boundaries as the neighbouring Roraima State of Brazil is experiencing similar conditions, GINA said.
