Dear Editor,
It is with great fear and trepidation that I write to inform you about a dangerous situation at the Mocha Road entrance directly across from the Providence Police Station. In years gone by, it started with a snackette but now includes: Bars, tyre repair shop (old tyres are dumped nearby), mechanic shop (vehicles changing or airing up wheels on the road), wash bay (the shoulder of the road is being constantly eroded, eventually the road will break up). Today a huge bush truck was being literally washed on the road. Car park – madness ensues when cars have to go into and out of the small space, and traffic ends up backing up onto the main road sometimes. An accident recently occurred there. Meat centre (chicken, duck & pork), sports bar with TV entertainment…recently built, snackettes expanding into food courts, it is said that illicit substances are also sold there. Parking on both sides of the road to purchase items, thus impeding the smooth flow of traffic, and huge blocks of concrete disposed on the parapet along with old vehicles and garbage from the new establishments.
When you speak with the Eccles/ Ramsburg NDC they say that they are responsible for northern half the road on the Providence side and the Herstelling NDC is responsible for the southern half of the road on the Herstelling side where all of the illicit operations are ongoing. It doesn’t look like it’s the Police problem, so they turn a blind eye to the lawlessness. Keep in mind that major housing development are ongoing behind Providence and Herstelling, and now that the new access road brings you out to the Mocha Road there is an exponential increase in traffic. Speeding has become an issue and accidents are occurring often. Recently there were two deaths. It would be wise to install speed bumps along the Mocha Road and make a walkway along the roadway for pedestrians. Another observation is that the wooden bridges that are built across on the southern side of the road to enter the new housing schemes that we call 1st bridge etc., were not built for heavy duty vehicles. I see, daily, the movement of dozens of these vehicles belonging to a Trinidadian company using this bridge without fear of it breaking and causing injury and death, and severe inconvenience to persons living there. I speak on this topic with experience as I witnessed when the New Providence Bridge collapsed when a cement truck was crossing and the driver of the truck died and the passenger was trapped for hours. We were inconvenienced for months until a new bridge was built. I am pleading with the Minister of Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall, to come with teams from both NDCs and take control of this situation as soon as possible. We are also asking for a traffic light to be installed at the Mocha entrance for the sake of safety to commuters.
Sincerely,
Saudia Ferouz
