Works on a section of the Canal No.2 Polder road, which runs parallel to the village access road, have been completed and engineers, are awaiting the results of its compaction test, said the Chief Road and Bridges Officer Ron Rahaman.
In an interview with the Stabroek News yesterday, Rahaman said the Public Works Ministry and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) had agreed in collaborating to construct a Crush and Run Surface Road. The works, he said, were divided between the two.
Recently, residents of Canal No.2 Polder, West Bank Demerara, who live along the road, had complained that the loam road was on a verge of collapse after contractors ceased works nearly two years ago. The villagers had described the road as a ‘sand storm’ in the dry season and slushy muddy dam in the raining and they said that they preferred the old dam they had before contractors of the ministry started to build new one.
Rahaman, however, stated that the ministry had not abandoned the project and their works were completed and that complaints were “coming from residents living in the section that the Region (RDC) is building.”
Meanwhile, the Region-al Chairman of Region Three Julius Faerber said the region’s section of works was stalled because contractors were encountering difficulties in sourcing materials. However, he indicated that the RDC’s section of the road would be completed within another month.
Faerber said the RDC saw the need to build the road since residents were living on a mud dam. He added that they began to lobby for the money to be budgeted for a construction of seven mile Crush and Run Surface Road since large agriculture machines would traverse the dam.
Villagers had complained that potholes had morphed into craters over the past two years and those with vehicles were suffering tremendous losses by having to repair their vehicles every other week. One woman had griped that heavy rainfall would wash away the loam from the road, leaving a muddy dam with huge holes.
A 74-year-old resident said she fell into a big hole filled one night when she was returning home from a Mandir. More residents complained that contractors from the Ministry had visited the area late last year after complaints were made to the Ministry. They said the contractors merely filled the potholes up with dirt and mud.
Rupnarine Shivnarine said field trucks which traversed the area on daily basis caused more damage to the road. “This is no road they build here. They just dig it out and dash sand and loam on it and call it that. When the rain fall my neighbour can’t pass with their vehicle because the hole is so big. So we would have to full up the ones in front of us and it’s not good for people cars and in the night,” he said.