“Nearly all the roads in Region 10 have problems”– Chairman
By Utamu Belle
The deplorable state of a recently constructed road at the entrance to Wisroc, Wismar, Linden, Region10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice) formed part of the discussions during the statutory Regional Democratic Council (RDC) meeting held last Thursday.
During the discussions, Councillor Gordon Callender stressed his frustration over the recently rehabilitated road that was undertaken by the previous Council.
He stressed that the newly built asphalted road, which is one of the main thoroughfares in the community, presently contains large potholes and was also an issue talked about at the previous Council.
The Councillor contended that the road needs urgent intervention given its present deplorable state.
“We road only do the other day…it’s a short period of time. The REO who is the Clerk of Council…traverse that road two, three times per day and I want to know if the REO ain’t see those holes that opened in that newly built road…money spending on that piece of road over and over…and you can’t be spending money over and over on the same piece of road”, Callender iterated.
He suggested that the road be urgently repaired using “hot mix”, indicating that it was not a chip seal road which was constructed.
In response, Regional Chairman Renis Morian said nearly all of the roads in the Region are problematic and blamed the recent rainy weather for road works not being carried out in a timely manner. He nevertheless stated that works are currently ongoing at places like Obama Drive, Amelia’s Ward, Mackenzie, and Linden.
“You got more than thirty examples of that (those type of roads) in Region 10. What we’ve asked contractors to do is mobilise in the weather because we don’t normally do road works in the weather and contractors have mobilised to do road works. And trust me we won’t even do quarter of the roads that need to be done in 2016 because nearly all the roads in Region 10 have problems. But I can assure you that road works are being done all over Region 10”, the chairman said.
Meanwhile, residents have also expressed dissatisfaction with the deplorable state of numerous roads in the Linden community. In some instances, they have related that attention has not been placed on these roads for years and that has led to serious deterioration.