Dear Editor,
It has been 2.5 years (April 2018) since publicity was given to the Bush Trail at Triumph Front Lands, East Coast Demerara. With nothing done to make Dasrat Street traversable, we must thank the BV/Triumph NDC with bold support by the Region 4 RDC for their foresight. Little did we recognize how important this bush trail would become in the current flood. By allowing the trail to add gullies and ravines residents secured an additional 1.5 feet depth of floodwater storage. Had it not been for such enlightening, homes would not have been 24 inches under water, but rather 30 inches. Thank you!
Not to be outdone, the National Drainage & Irrigation Authority (NDIA) with their newly added expensive local consultants perhaps thought this area, like Success village, was also the target for cane cultivation resumption, so by some level of competence ensured sufficient water levels to fallow the land. After 3-months of parched weather, their bypass pump at Triumph ceased. Not surprisingly, the incomplete Triumph koker remains under construction after several years of prudent supervision by the NDIA! You may recall the only person held accountable and fired for the 4-week 2005 coastal flood was an attendant who operated the Triumph koker. Geniuses!
For context, the Region 4 RDC Head Office is located in this very tiny area of Triumph Front Lands, while the BV/Triumph NDC is located way down Triumph at Market Street, well over two miles away. During the recent elections impasse the Region 4 RDC decided its gated-like community, housing senior officials, also located in this little area, needed an asphalted road upgrade for its six houses and 10 cars. Mind you this road was well above the trail-like qualities of the outer perimeter Bush Trail, now canal. Distant past roadwork on the Bush trail by the RDC only linked the Region 4 RDC office to the few wealthy homes in the community.
Not to be outdone the BV/Triumph NDC recently jumped another gear of ingenuity and began building a new trail alongside the Triumph koker/pump/ drainage canal to another entrance of the community. Using their newly found road building expertise, a wonderful mud (not sand) foundation was prepared. We can only guess the intention of such creativity is not to fix the treacherous bush trail (now canal) but create a bush-truck styled bypass. We will pay closer attention to this new trail to track movement of any wildlife.
As we sit in this cesspool of nothingness (floods, trails/canals and innovation) and having just finished placing my furniture on top of several concrete blocks, I also reflect on the recent termination of garbage collection by the BV/Triumph NDC. Residents are now forced to succumb to a sole unregulated private collector charging an unconscionable $400 per barrel collection and visiting when space provides.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
