Communities from Surapana to further up the Demerara River are to get much needed relief with a $10.5 million allocation for the repair of their main access road.
Residents were recently informed of the allocation at a meeting specially convened by Regional Chairman Mortimer Mingo at Coomacka Mines—one of four communities to benefit from the rehabilitation of the road.
The meeting followed a cry for help by residents of Coomacka Mines, Nottinghamshire, and Mariah Elizabeth/Three Friends Mines two weeks ago, after they were denied access through the Nottinghamshire internal road. According to residents, due the atrocious state of the Coomacka main access road, vehicular traffic had diverted through their internal road. In a short time, the Nottinghamshire road also deteriorated, forcing residents to block the road. They said that short drop buses and taxis did not pose many problems but the large trucks that used the road did. “Bosai… and all them lumber company start using this road and mashing up this lil culvert we trying so hard to keep in shape,” said one resident.
With the road being blocked, short drop buses and taxis ceased operation, forcing over 100 children to walk several miles to and from school on a daily basis.
Residents said that the main access road was totally inaccessible by bus or taxi. “Right now, it is very hard on us,” said a secondary school student.
She said that there are only two buses on the road at the time and they make one trip per day.
There are no secondary schools in or between the three communities. As a result, students have to travel on a daily basis to Linden to get to schools there.
Coomacka residents had tried to do some amount of patchwork on the road with assistance from a private company, the Linden municipality and a government ministry. They attempted to fill the large potholes with sand.
“This still ain’t making much sense because when them big trucks make two drive through, is back to square one and they ain’t tell we yet when this $10 million work gon start, so we still at square one,” a resident said.
