Horrors for Diego Martin residents

Member of Parliament for Diego Martin East, Colm Imbert, yesterday wrote to Works Minister, Franklyn Khan, calling on Khan to intervene in a development project in Diego Martin that caused considerable traffic chaos last weekend.

"I have asked Mr Khan to get the Highways Division involved because something is very wrong when a private developer can close down a main road the way the developer of Vale View project did in Diego Martin last weekend," Imbert said. Imbert was in Tobago for the weekend in connection with the new Tobago Hospital. "It is contrary to practice. A developer is only given permission to block or dig up a small part of a main road at a time and he can only do so between 9 pm and 4 am. He must reinstate the asphalt road immediately after the pipes are put down,” Imbert said. Diego Martin residents were yesterday looking for their parliamentary representatives who they claim have abandoned them to the sufferings inflicted by private developer, Gowkaran Mahabir who is working on the Vale View project at St Lucien Road, Diego Martin.

The weekend work was carried out on a sewer line which closed off the St Lucien Road from early Saturday morning until midnight on Sunday, causing massive inconvenience to residents in the entire Diego Martin area, and particularly those living on St Lucien Road between the Wendy Fitzwilliam Boulevard, and Sierra Leone Road which was completely blocked off. Even commuters who use the Diego Martin Main Road, found they too were affected because of the traffic jams, as vehicles crowded the Diego Martin Main Road when they could not access the St Lucien Road. Residents said they have had problems before but last weekend was a horror. Newsday was told that the work was supposed to be completed by 6 pm on Sunday, however police officers at the West End police station granted the contractor an additional four hours to complete the work by 10 pm. But the work went on for a further two hours, until midnight Sunday. As a result  thousands of residents of Diego Martin and Petit Valley suffered hours of traffic jams. In the haste to complete the work, a WASA pipeline was ruptured and up to yesterday afternoon was the cause of further traffic pile ups, because of the extreme caution motorists had to exercise. In addition, the dug-up roadway was repaved without the leak being repaired.

Yesterday WASA officials when contacted by Newsday, said a crew was sent to "lock off" the water supply so repairs to the leak could be undertaken. Further, Newsday was told that the Certificate of Environmental Clearance granted to the contractor, Mahabir, facilitated work using heavy equipment until 7 pm on Sunday. However the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) which granted the certificate, yesterday could not confirm this. An official "promised" to make enquiries into the matter. Members of Parliament (MP’s) for the area Kenneth Valley and Dr Keith Rowley could not be reached for comment to ascertain what assistance they were granting their constituents. Local government representative for "one side of the St Lucien Road," Bernard Cropper said he knew of the Vale View project, "but not enough." He invited residents to meet with Imbert on Thursdays from 5 pm at 1 Morne Coco Road to discuss the matter. An advertisement in Thursday's Newsday warned motorists of the inconvenience which would have resulted from the work, but what transpired was chaos. The work supervised by WASA caused a massive pile up of traffic and made it impossible for residents in the area to access their homes with their cars. Residents had to walk to their homes with their groceries, leaving their cars parked wherever they could. No fast food outlets accepted orders for deliveries, as they could not waste hours tied up in the traffic. Newsday reporter Nalinee Seelal, who was reporting the story, was threatened twice on Sunday and again on Monday for writing about the traffic chaos. Newsday has made a report to the police.