Cost may be higher than anticipated

Residents are happy that President Bharrat Jagdeo has undertaken to rehabilitate the seven-mile long access road to the Mahaicony Creek but it appears it may cost a lot more than first anticipated.

A section of the deplorable Mahaicony road

Residents told this newspaper during a visit to the area last week that when it rains the situation is dreadful. Some sections of the road are flooded during heavy rainfall and residents believe that that contributes to its deterioration.

A few drivers said the huge potholes are causing their vehicles to be damaged and that they have to go to the workshop “every two weeks.”

According to them, “the road breaking up we shocks and bushing and we have to go through a lot of expense to fix them.”

Another driver said that “we burn a lot of fuel when they have to slow down so often” to manoeuvre around the potholes. He also pointed out that it takes residents a long time to get to their destinations.

A security guard in the area said that “the road is wavy [with potholes] and when I have to ride my bicycle at nights I don’t know when I reach the potholes until I drop in them.”

After a visit to Mahaicony Creek, two Saturdays ago, President Jagdeo had announced that the main thoroughfare would have to be repaired because its condition was “atrocious.”

Vehicles manoeuvring around the potholes

According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release Jagdeo said the repairs are necessary especially due to the magnitude of work needed under the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary works project.

GINA said repairs to the road are long overdue. Additionally, the president said there needed to be a faster solution to undertaking such projects other than the long process of tendering and evaluation.

“We have to have a better way of working faster, especially when you have projects of a critical nature. That road serves a lot of people in this community so we will probably have to take over the road and get it done quickly,” the president had said.

He had estimated the cost of the project to be around $50M and noted that it will require a lot more work than the plan outlined by the Region Five administration.

However, a team of regional officials, including regional chairman, Harrinarine Baldeo, the regional engineer and the Chief Planning Officer subsequently visited the road to make an assessment of the road and realized that it would require about $190M to fix.

A section of the road under water during the recent flood

Contacted, Regional Executive Officer (REO), Floyd France told Stabroek News that every year repairs are being carried out on the road. He said it is a “farm to market [agricultural] area with residents living along the road.” He noted too that a lot of heavy duty vehicles also traverse the road.

The REO said that in 2007 the region spent $18M on repairs and last year some $9M was expended. He said the repairs involved “squaring and filling the potholes” with a mixture of loam, sand, crusher run and bitumen.

Another $9M was allocated for repairs to the road for this year but France said that the money would now have to be diverted to another farming area in the community.