Works on Linden/Lethem trail a work in progress – Harmon

In the midst of the May-June rainy season, persons travelling along the Linden-Lethem Road have been calling on Government to repair sections of the trail which have become impassable, but Minister of State Joseph Harmon has assured that works to upgrade the road are ongoing.
“The road itself, that is, the Linden Highway, is a work in progress. I can say that because some work has already started in Lethem. You would recognise that some of the culvert’s work has already started,” he told reporters during last week’s post-Cabinet press briefing.
Sections of the road – at Fairview in Region Nine and Kurupukari in Region Eight – are completely impassible, with the greater part of the road at those sections being inundated by heavy rainfall over the past weeks.
In fact, only last week, commuters were complaining that users are contending that the good parts of the Linden/Lethem road are outnumbered by bad sections, sharing too that the condition of the road had resulted in vehicles overturning.
Two Saturdays ago, a truck driver was injured after his vehicle reportedly went overboard while crossing the Christmas Bridge. He was attempting to manoeuvre lorry GWW 5832 with a load of sawn lumber across the Christmas Bridge, but ended up toppling into the nearby creek.
Operators have complained too that the condition of the trail is made worse by lumber trucks operating during the wet weather.
One bus driver, Ramroop (only name given), said, “We have our buses and we have to spend most of the money we make to maintain the bus because of the road. Right through we sticking up! The bridge them a wash away or break down, and we have to pay more money to get people to pull we out.”
The angry man pointed out that Government needs to do more to maintain the road, and added that drivers are not opposed to paying an increase in toll in exchange for better roads. He further explained that because of the impassable state of the road, vehicle owners are being forced to pay as much as $5000 at Fairview for villagers to use the village truck to pull their vehicles out of the slush. This payment, he contends, is in addition to tolls and maintenance costs.
“By the time we done fix the bus and pay all them money that, we not making any money at all! The Government got to do better than this! Them ah wait until the road bad bad and nothing can’t do and then them come and will try to fix it. We are the one suffering, not them; because them can afford to fly to Lethem, but what about the poor people?” another driver added.
In February of 2017, the Public Infrastructure Ministry had said it was gearing to commence construction of the first phase of the Linden-Lethem Road project, which will be funded with a $15 million grant from United Kingdom Government through its £300 million Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF) programme that was announced by former British Prime Minister David Cameron back in 2015. Guyana was named among nine Caribbean countries to benefit from the grant and identified the Linden-Lethem Road project as the beneficiary.
The first phase of the project spans from Linden to Mabura, and covers approximately 122.5 kilometres of road and the construction of the bridge across the Essequibo River at Kurupukari ferry crossing.
Meanwhile, the remaining 331.5km of the laterite road will fall under other phases and will be undertaken through funding from other sources.
Early last year, it was reported that Government had engaged the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) on possible funding for the stretch of road between Mabura Hill and Lethem. In fact, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had disclosed during its annual meeting back in April that the bank is to make some US$900 million available to Guyana over the next three years for projects in the areas of infrastructure, rural and human development, among others.
On the other hand, Guyana and Brazil had signed two agreements in December last, one of which is the Complementary Agreement to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the Federative Republic of Brazil, which creates the “Guyana-Brazil Joint Commission to Develop Infrastructure Projects”.
The construction of the long-awaited Linden-Lethem road is one of the key projects under this agreement. In July last year, a ministerial team from Guyana visited their counterparts in the neighbouring Portuguese nation during which it was agreed that both countries will provide financial resources for the engineering and design of the road.
It was reported too that the two countries will be working closely with the People’s Republic of China to access a $50 billion China Select Fund to complete the critical piece of infrastructure that holds great potential in terms of integrating the two countries and improving trade between the neighbours and the Caribbean.