Waiting for promised road repairs

Minister Imbert did visit the area three and a half months ago on November 8, 2005 at the request of the Penal/Debe Chamber of Commerce. During the course of that visit certain commitments were made by him as follows:

1) That a second Bailey bridge would be installed over the Cooramata River on the SS Road at Suchit Trace junction to relieve the huge traffic jam on its major road as a result of the demolition of the old bridge. Happily this additional temporary bridge has significantly improved the traffic flow. We wish to thank the minister for his personal effort in this regard.

2) That certain local authority roads such as Gopie Trace, Suchit Trace, Debe Trace, Hermitage-Debe Road (Gandhi Village), Wellington Road and Cuchawan Trace East would be repaired as a result of damage done by the increased flow of heavy traffic on these secondary roads due to vehicles by-passing the congestion at certain points on the SS Erin Road.

While the minister noted that these roads fell under the control of the local government authority, he acknowledged that the Ministry of Works and Transport was largely responsible for this situation. Subsequently the total estimate for repair work on these roads was put at $9.3 million — an insignificant sum in the light of the Ministry’s budget. No action has yet been taken

3) That drainage works would be undertaken at certain identified points on the SS Erin and Wellington Roads to mitigate the flooding problem. Nothing to date has been done.

4) That other priority road repair and rehabilitation works would be identified by members of the Penal/Debe Chamber in a subsequent visit with officers of the Highways Division South of the Ministry of Works and Transport. This visit took place on November 23, 2005 and the terrible condition of the following roads under the responsibility of the Highways Division was noted and action promised:

Name of Road Estimated cost of repair

La Fortune/Pluck Road $6 million

San Francique Road 8.6 million

Golconda Road 3.4 million

M2 Ring Road 9 million

Connector Road 2.9 million

Dumfries Road 2.1 million

Phillipine Road 1.9 million

Papourie Road 60.0 million

No work has commenced to date on any of these roads.

Whether Point Fortin will be given priority over Penal/Debe and whether the minister will again personally intervene to have action initiated is left to be seen.

TREVOR SUDAMA

PRO Penal/Debe Chamber of Commerce