Mara residents forced to maneuver roadway

Residents of communities along the East Bank Berbice Corridor, stretching as far as Mara, 25 miles from New Amsterdam, are seeking the intervention of regional authorities to clear the roadway of the overgrowth of bamboo plants.
They allege that they literally have to clear passages through the overgrowth of bush along the road in order for their vehicles to traverse some sections of that corridor.

Workers attached to the Community Enhancement Programme (CIP) along that corridor are no longer employed in that part of the community. They are now performing duties in other sections of East Bank Berbice.
The electorate along the entire East Bank Berbice corridor had given overwhelming support to the APNU/AFC coalition at the last general elections. Mara was the only community that had bucked that trend.
At a recent RDC meeting, the condition of the road was discussed, and Regional Councillor Zaman Hussain had noted that the overgrowth both on the ground and overhead, consisting mainly of bamboo plants, was making life difficult for residents living along that corridor. He had said there was need for CIP workers to engage in activities there, and had charged that CIP workers were being sent only to “certain” communities in the region.
“Certain areas are being given priority in this region. I don’t know where the money is coming from. Certain areas which (are) referred to as ‘supporters of the Coalition Government’. I am very dissatisfied with this. Resources should be distributed evenly across the region,” Hussain had argued.
Region Six Chairman David Armogan had promised to dispatch to the community an engineer who would assess the situation and provide feedback to the RDC.
Chairman of the 30-member Concerned Citizens Group of Mara, Randolph Prass, in an invited comment said the road is in a very deplorable condition. “Some mornings, when you have to get to New Amsterdam — that is like 04:30 to 05: 00h — we gotta stop and remove the bamboo from the roadways. Sometimes, when the rain fall heavily, the bamboo blocks up the road; and sometimes you coming through you don’t even notice it, and ‘blam!’ Accident.
“We are (also) asking if something urgently can be done to address the issue of the big potholes that the vehicles have to go through,” he has said.
Because of the current condition of the road, its takes about two hours for a vehicle to travel the 25 miles that separate Mara from New Amsterdam.
“It is very difficult for senior citizens to go to New Amsterdam, especially to draw their pensions. And when they have to get the new book, they have to go themselves. A car takes $10,000 to go out to New Amsterdam and come back in, so it is very difficult for them to survive,” Prass explained.
Prass also noted that the state of the drainage and irrigation canals at Germania is a worrying concern.
The villages of Germania and Mara are the last two villages accessible by road along the East Bank Berbice Corridor, and they are home to approximately 200 residents. Farming is the sole source of income in that community. Farmers sell their produce in the town of New Amsterdam. (Andrew Carmichael)