Residents of Mon Repos and the surrounding East Coast Demerara communities are pleading with the relevant authorities to fix the deplorable and “almost impassable” Agriculture Road.
The road, which runs about two miles south from the Embankment Road, has large potholes scattered across it. Some holes span width of the entire road and others are small, deep and circular and are scattered around the thoroughfare. Vehicles using the road have to carefully manoeuvre to avoid the holes. However, some are too large to escape and drivers have to brave it through the rugged sections.
“It’s been like this for a long time and all that does happen, some people does put some bricks in them but that don’t make any sense cause they does break up fast, fast,” Raj Narine, a resident of the area related to Stabroek News on Monday.
The man explained that while during the day it is hard to traverse the roads, at night the road was very dangerous for drivers and cyclists. “You see the size of them holes? They real big and if somebody don’t know the road and they come driving through they vehicle going to get bruk up. If a man riding through on his motorcycle he could even fall and get seriously injured,” the man said, relating that the road needs to be fixed as soon as possible since it attracts a large amount of traffic.
The thoroughfare is the main access to the Guyana School of Agriculture, the National Agriculture Research and Extension Institute and the Guyana Livestock Development Association.
“When it rains and these holes fill up with water you drive by guesswork, and you can imagine the damage to your tyres. Pedestrians and especially schoolchildren become pathfinders hopping and jumping with great consternation,” a letter to Stabroek News from a concerned resident also explained.
“Anyone living around here in the years gone by will tell you that this road is mostly repaired only when a minister of the government is visiting one of the institutions in the area,” the letter added. “Then the road is patched up and the sidewalks are trimmed, and I have even seen persons sweeping the road in preparation for the official’s big entrance.” According to the letter, the writer hopes that the days of “such selective enhancement is over” and the residents are seeking those responsible to look into the situation early.
Other drivers who traverse the road on a daily basis related to Stabroek News that they would have to “carefully manoeuvre” the road in order to not have additional expenses at the end of the month.
“Tyres are expensive now. [The prices of] other car parts are rising so you can’t risk it. But sometimes you can’t avoid the holes and you just have to drive through it so it’s a lose-lose situation,” one of the hire car drivers who operate on the roadway explained to Stabroek News.
“Plus in the morning when it’s heavy traffic and persons taking their time to pass the holes there is a very big build up that wastes time but you can’t blame anyone,” the man added.
When Stabroek News contacted the Mon Repos Neighbourhood Democratic Council, Chairman Ayube Mohammed related that since the road is so large it is usually repaired by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure. Stabroek News was unable to contact the ministry’s work service group for an update on the situation.
