Coomacka residents continue to plead for better road

– David Granger school bus remains grounded

Pesidents of Coomacka, Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice) are calling on relevant authorities to give urgent attention to the deplorable state of the community’s access road and a bridge which collapsed several months ago.

Drivers and residents alike have registered their concern, pointing out that there has been no improvement for months. Currently, drivers are complaining about the state of the access road, rendering it unsafe to drive, more so when it rains.

In August, heavy downpours resulted in the collapse of the revetment on the access bridge, which caused intense flooding in the small farming community. Councillor of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and Chairman of the Coomacka Development Council (CDC) Dexter Harding said it was the third time that the bridge had collapsed and pointed to faulty work by the contractor as the main cause.

Harding had also complained that the poor state of the two infrastructures will have a negative effect on the Granger School bus which was later commissioned by the President to serve students of the community. To date the bus has not been able to serve the students since it encountered problems on its first trip to the community to pick up students, given the state of the road. Residents say they have returned to using other means of transportation to get students to school.

“Things are not better. The issues are the same. No resolution to the bridge issue. The road is still the same. With the constant rainfall it is getting worse. We also don’t know when the school bus will be in operation because the road remains in a deplorable state,” one parent told this newspaper.

Another resident disclosed that since the road is very low and the drains are not dug, when it rains it gushes over the roadway. This he noted also creates indentations along the road.

Although it was graded recently, residents say due to the highness of the drains it causes the road to flood during the rains which further leads to erosion. With regards to the bridge, residents disclosed that works was only carried out to half of it and there is no support underneath.

According to some residents, laterite could be used to rehabilitate the roadway. (Utamu Belle)