Residents of Black Bush Polder, Corentyne are once again calling on the government to embark on a project to improve the roads, especially the main access lane within their communities as sections are currently in a deplorable condition.
One driver who has worked a hire car in Black Bush Polder for over twenty years said, “the road na ready yet.” The man said on Wednesday during a visit by the Sunday Stabroek, that “the road from here (Adventure) to Lesbeholden first bridge they patch, they cut the road and patch am, them throw lil brick, throw tar and throw lil white sand. When rain fall all wash out so them hole gone more worse.”
He continued, “The road extremely bad at Johanna side, terrible, and nobody na do nothing…”
Touching on the maintenance of his vehicle, the driver said, “Every week is something, tyre a bust, rack end, steering, every week something got to change,”
Presently the fare to enter Black Bush Polder from the Adventure entrance stands at $300 and $400 depending on the distance one wants to go, while previously it was $100 and $200.
The driver called on government to embark on a project to fix the public road even if it is in phases but asked that “somebody good get the work, a contractor that know what to do…Somebody like a Peter Lewis, them can’t go gee substandard contractor because them one wah do the road na know wa fa do really.”
Presently, several of the cross streets are being done in Black Bush Polder, however, the residents contended that the machines “a bruk more than them a make.”
“You see the place dry today so you a drive through the holes them but when rain fall, it terrible, you na know which corner and so fa drive.”
He told the Sunday Stabroek, “Them a do substandard work and then it na hold the weight when them truck a run in and same situation we lef in and we got to face it.”
Additionally, he said that persons from outside of Black Bush Polder are throwing their garbage along the road shoulders in the area which is also affecting residents.
While residents contended that they have seen development in other areas in Black Bush Polder, they stressed that they are desperately in need of proper roads.
Another resident, rice farmer, Chandradat Arjune, 36, a father of three, explained that the road has been in that situation for a while now. “The government got to help out abbay this, the road bad and it deh like that for a while now… Them fix part, part but it still bad”
He added, “Them a mix lil streets and so but them need fa do something more.”
Another resident, Pastor Errol Fitzallen, 60, said he believes the road systems need to be widened.
Too narrow
“I notice this road too narrow for the vehicles because you find that if a truck coming and the vehicle going the other side it gon have to stop and then you na have pedestrian area.”
He pointed out, that when the tractors return from the fields the roads then are in such a condition that residents “can’t walk.”
According to him, “most of the cross streets, like 95% still need to be done.”
In February, 2023, the Ministry of Public Works, in an invitation for bids announced the rehabilitation/construction of a section of the BBP road at Yakusari, Region Six. The engineer’s estimate for this project is $200m.
Bids were also invited for the rehabilitation/construction of a section of the BBP road at Johanna, Region Six. The engineer’s estimate for this project is $150m.
However, as of this week, there were several big potholes in both Yakusari and Johanna affecting vehicles from easily accessing the areas.
Meanwhile, residents also called for the implementation of streetlights stressing that due to the deplorable road and no streetlights they are finding it extremely difficult to exit Black Bush Polder in the evenings especially during an emergency.
One resident said, “Nobody don’t go out night time, unless is a emergency cause you barely a see how to drive with them holes.”
