New work aimed at salvaging the eroding waterfront at Kumaka in the Mabaruma Sub-Region has started but residents said “too late, too late may be the cry” as the area has been sinking continuously.
Reports are that work started one week ago, but there was some difficulty being experienced in carrying out the project.
Attempts by this newspaper to contact the regional authorities this week for an update on the situation have been futile.
Reports are that the workers attached to the Works Ministry started to build a new revetment structure, some 15 feet closer to the existing landscape and revetment piles were sunk into the area last week. The new structure is being built more than 20 feet inland from the previous revetment which sank under the waters from the nearby Aruka River several weeks ago. The requisite materials arrived at Kumaka several weeks ago along heavy duty equipment.
A Kumaka businessman told this newspaper yesterday that since work restarted in the area, the situation has worsened. He said road traffic along the waterfront area has stalled. Members of the business community have no alternative but to pay persons to hoist their goods from a nearby bond at the former Kumaka Marketing Corporation (KMC) wharf where the North West Ferry, MV Kimbia discharges goods when it arrives there. The river has eroded the roadway which links a section of the community where the ferry moors to other parts of the community.
Dexter King, a businessman at Kumaka told this newspaper this week that the situation has been affecting his business, “in a very bad way whole year long.” He said residents had asked the authorities to backfill an area close to where work was being undertaken, so that vehicles can access the nearby wharf and this was done several days ago.
But according to him, the work is being done in a haphazard manner. He added that the draglines being used have been malfunctioning almost daily. “Is Works Ministry doing this here and these machinery ain’t even working properly so we might tek a while …we might tek a year and right now I gat bags of rice in a bond that can’t move out,” he added.
Another businessman, Gregory Wells, said the authorities have not listened to concerns or advice as regards the situation. “They ain’t teking no advice from the people and what they need and when you tell them we want this thing do a better way they ain’t listening.”
He said the ferry was in the region last week and it took several days before his goods could be discharged. Wells added that the ferry would normally spend four days in the region offloading and discharging cargo. He said that as the situation persists, the vessel had been spending almost one week in the region.
He said the situation has also turned away customers. “The road messy and nobody ain’t coming out and walk,” he said.
Meantime, this newspaper understands that Kumaka and other communities in the sub-region continue to experience electricity woes as the generating set which was fixed by technicians in the area has been malfunctioning almost daily. Stabroek News was told that soon after the generating set was fixed, the communities received as much as 12 hours of electricity as the machine was being tested.
However, a resident told this newspaper recently that the equipment has broken down on several occasions in recent weeks. He said a new generating set, which arrived at Kumaka recently, is still on the wharf.
This new generating set, which the region purchased earlier this year, arrived with several parts missing. Meanwhile, since the wharf is inaccessible to vehicles at the moment, it is likely that the generator will remain there for some time, he said.
