For years residents have been traversing a deplorable branch road at Mahaica and as it continues to deteriorate they are calling for it to be fixed urgently fearing that soon they would have nowhere to drive.

According to a resident of Supply, Mahaica, Azad Karim, it takes a long time to drive through the potholed road which is causing serious damage to vehicles.
He said during heavy rainfall “it is even worse because some parts of the road are flooded and you cannot even pass with your vehicles.”

Karim, a re-migrant said too that another section of the road that is in an appalling condition is at Vereeniging. He said a school is located nearby and the children are having difficulty walking on the road especially when the drivers have to dodge the potholes.

He said too that “this is one of the busiest branch roads; it is used daily by a number of hire cars drivers who go up to the Cane Grove area.”
Further, he said a rice mill is located at Cane Grove and heavy-duty vehicles also use the road often, causing it to be damaged more.
He questioned why the road was not fixed before it reached this stage and said “it would cost more money for them to rebuild it now.”
Karim told this newspaper he contacted the Ministry of Public Works and was told that they would visit the area to have a look at the road. He is not sure if any visit was made but said that he was also referred to a Mr. Goring but had never gotten on to him.

Further, a few hire car drivers told this newspaper that because of the huge potholes they have to spend a lot of money at the workshops to repair their vehicles. They also have to keep purchasing parts such as shocks and bushings and said “right now we spending more than we making.”

They also said that it is difficult to drive on the road, which is also very narrow when they have to manoeuvre around the potholes and at the same time avoid “knocking down” pedestrians.

Residents of Cane Grove, Mahaica say they are fed up with the deplorable condition of the road and are calling on the government to fix it urgently.

Drivers complained that the road which is deteriorating rapidly is causing serious damage to their vehicles and puts them in a lot of extra expense.

According to them, the road is a major setback for development in the area and that a trip to the main road that would usually take 10 minutes is now taking half hour.

Frustrated with the deplorable condition of the East Bank of Berbice (EBB) road, residents are planning to stage another protest this year if government does not keep its promise to construct one.

The residents told Stabroek News that they were “waiting for the budget to pass to know if the road was included.”

They recalled that following a major protest last year, promises were made for the construction of a new road in the first quarter of 2014.

They had even taken the picketing exercise in front of parliament building. They lamented that it is “time the promises are fulfilled because we have been traversing the pothole-filled road for too long.”

Drivers told this newspaper that they cannot avoid driving in the potholes and that it is causing severe damage to their vehicles and resulting in them undergoing additional expenses every six weeks.

A resident told this newspaper that if the government officials know they “cannot fix the road they should come out and say what the plans are. They can’t allow the time to pass and don’t say anything.”

Some drivers said when they leave the area in the mornings they would rather work around New Amsterdam all day and return in the afternoon. Some drivers have even started to charge extra money because of the damage to their vehicles.

Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, during a sitting of the National Assembly last year had said that a feasibility study and design of the road was expected to begin shortly.

Residents recalled too that during the Arrival Day celebration at Highbury, EBB in 2012, President Donald Ramotar “went on stage and said we would get a new road. He said he would see to it that it was passed in the 2013 budget. We’re still waiting…”

Ramotar had also said during a meeting with the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association last year that “to do that road we are borrowing money from the IDB and again they want a study done before they disburse the money.”

He had nevertheless promised that his government would try to accelerate the process. The earliest date “we think that we can build the road that we want to build for the East Bank of Berbice would be the beginning of next year [2014],” he added.

“In the meantime, we will be putting all the resources needed to make it passable, for it to be acceptable,” he had said.

Contacted, Regional Chairman of Region Six, David Armogan told this newspaper, “There is continuous maintenance of the road by H. Nauth & Sons Construction.” He said too that the Ministry of Public Works is the agency responsible for the road.

Residents said the maintenance work was not helping too much. They stressed that “the money government is spending to patch the road they coulda save for when they’re rebuilding it.”

They said too: “In the dry weather, dust blowing all over… and when the rain fall the road is slushy and you can’t even see the potholes.”