An eroding road is threatening the safety of at least two households as well as motorists traversing Phase Three of the Wisroc Housing Scheme, at Wismar, Linden, but the Region Ten administration does not have the funds to address the problem given its scale.
The eroded area is at the far end of the housing scheme, a part of which sits on the edge of a gully.
According to residents, the erosion started some years ago and two revetments were constructed under the previous regional administration to address the situation. However, the problem worsened last year, they said, when a drain pipe was left flowing as the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) was carrying out one of its regular flushing exercises. “That pipe they were flushing and it was running really heavy for more than half day and it’s since then this problem started getting worse,” opined a resident. The woman’s house is one of two that is threatened.
In the presence of the Regional Executive Officer (REO) Youlanda Hilliman, the resident accused the regional administration of not doing anything about the situation. She said that in June, a complaint was lodged at the Works Department, which resulted in engineers checking the problem. “You (Hilliman) didn’t been on the scene yet,” she told Hilliman, adding “But since you visited, y’all still didn’t do nothing to even temporarily arrest this situation. And this is ten times worse since when you first came. Y’all got to do something fast, really fast. This slow, slow business can’t work. People lives and deh homes at risk,” she added.
In response, GWI spokesman Timothy Austin said the company had nothing to do with the erosion, while noting that the situation has been ongoing for a while but the region did nothing about it. “This problem had started when there was the unrest in Linden and we had to remove our pipes and relocate them to the shoulder of the road. We had to shut down our plants during the unrest. This started a while, since in the 90s but the region did nothing about it. We have nothing to do with this problem,” he told Stabroek News, when contacted for comment.
Hilliman, for her part, admitted that the situation had escalated significantly since her previous visit on the July 16. “We did have an assessment done but it was realised that the magnitude of the works that has to be done is way beyond our budget,” she explained, adding that the regional budget only had a $5M that could have been committed to the works. “The first estimate was ten point something million, the next estimate was over twelve million and now at this stage you could only imagine the cost,” she added, saying it was pointless attempting to utilise the $5M on the project.
Hilliman added that she transferred the matter to the central authorities, who promised to visit the area. She had also sought the assistance of BOSAI, requesting tyres to be placed at the erosion site.
BOSAI’s Lethem Wilson and Waynewright Bethune led a team from the region, including Hilliman, to investigate the situation, when it was discovered that the situation had escalated drastically. The width of the road had already been reduced by half and there were visible signs of cracks on the remaining half. “If this is not dealt with now, my house and that one over the road will burst and is gone deh gon gone,” said an emotional resident.
As a temporary measure, residents block both access points of the road but taxi and min bus drivers have been frequently removing the blocks to pass. “Every time a vehicle pass is suh my house does vibrate and shake, and if you check my wall one done crack,” a concerned resident said.
Residents, meanwhile, continued to call on the relevant authorities to work on arresting the erosion and reconstruct the road, complete with the required drains, and they also urged the region’s traffic police to erect cordons to restrict traffic on the road in the interim.
