Cedros villagers protest bad roads

HUNDREDS of residents from Cedros and Granville staged protests yesterday, blocking main roads with trees and debris to highlight deplorable road conditions. The protest caused a major traffic pile-up. Villagers claim contractors responsible for repairing roads and who had already started work on a retaining wall to prevent further erosion and slippage, packed up and left without completing the work. Logs were placed across roads at Point Cocoa Junction and Southern Main Road in Granville and villagers sat on the logs and refused to leave or clear away the debris.

Disgruntled residents armed with placards, some of which read: “Nobody moving, we want the road fix” and “Shocks and springs changing everyday,” stood their ground from early yesterday morning. Councillor for Granville, Samnarine Teelucksingh said Super Industrial Services Ltd (SIS) began work on the road last July, but to date there had not been much improvement and the road is now a muddy track. “It is terrible, the road is no longer a road but a red muddy track. It is dug up throughout causing serious damage to our vehicles. Something must be done, we demand to know why the repair work was abandoned,” Tee-lucksingh said.

He also called on Works Minister Franklyn Khan to explain why the contractors were moved out of the area. However, SIS foreman Deodath Jagessar denied his firm had abandoned the remedial road work. “We did not pack up. We just held up production for a few days because there was a delay in achieving test results on the material for the area where work was due,” Jagessar said. He explained that the company’s equipment had been left at Cap De Ville over the past weekend for safe keeping until test results were in. He said the  results did come in on Tuesday and work was due to restart yesterday.

“Many of the workers on the project live in Cedros and yesterday when I came out to have them transported to the site, I saw the road covered with trees that were cut down and a vast majority of people protesting.” Jagessar said the company’s vehicle could not get past the debris and protesters and the SIS crew had to wait for it to be cleared up so work could resume. He admitted roads in the area were “really deplorable and in dire need of repair,” but said the residents must understand such repairs take time.