Land access to sections of Kumaka, in the Mabaruma Sub-Region has been cut off after the nearby Aruka River severely eroded parts of the waterfront in recent weeks.
Region One Chairman Paul Pierre told Stabroek News that the situation has become extremely serious, explaining that a small stretch of land that connected the main sections of the community had been under water over the past few days.
Pierre added that the regional authorities are working with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) to address the problem, and in particular to prevent vehicular traffic between the two mains sections of the waterfront via the landscape.
“It’s serious and at the moment people are crossing the area at their own risk,” Pierre said on Tuesday, adding that persons may have to use boats to travel between the two sections of the area.
He added that the Public Works Ministry will undertake works which will see a revetment being built further inland to save the existing landscape, and a barge with materials which are to be used for the revetment works is already on its way to the region.
A businessman at Kumaka told Stabroek News that residents are concerned that all of the land at the waterfront will soon be under water, since recent high tides have seen the water overtopping and subsequently flooding parts of the community.
Recently, he added, residents have noted that there are cracks in the landscape at other parts of Kumaka and he warned that the situation will effectively “kill business here and in the region in general.”
There are also reports are that the foundation of the old Kumaka Marketing Corpora-tion (KMC) wharf, which is being used by ferry MV Kimbia, is slowly eroding and residents have stated that the development will add to their woes.
“What will happen is that we will have to go to Morawhanna unless they build a new wharf which we cannot see happening soon, given the treatment this region getting from the government,” a businesswoman told Stabroek News. She said that business at Kumaka has already been hard hit at the region’s business hub and according to her many persons have relocated from the area over the past year as the situation has worsened.
She said too that many persons in the region are upset that the individuals who are being designated to overlook the works at the waterfront are under-qualified. In this regard, she noted that one of the overseers of works which were undertaken is a relative of a government minister and had no engineering qualifications to his name.
The area had been threatened by the nearby river for a number of years and residents had been calling on the authorities to address the situation. Several businesses have already removed from the waterfront.
