The Lethem Power Company was yesterday forced to import fuel from neighbouring Brazil to prevent blackouts as a collapsed bridge on the Georgetown to Lethem trail which has fuel tankers stalled has still not been repaired.
However, some communities were already without power yesterday and residents are wondering for how much longer.
A resident of St Ignatius told Stabroek News that his community was without power all Saturday night and up to press time yesterday.
He said that there had been no word on when the power would be restored. “Right now if you without a generator in Lethem you goose cook…everybody only hearing the bridge will be fixed today then today comes and is tomorrow. What will happen to people this Christmas,” he said.
Up to yesterday afternoon, the bridge, located some 20 miles from Kurupukari at a location referred to by commuters as Frenchman Turn, was still being fixed and works are expected to continue today and tomorrow.
Minister of Transport Robeson Benn said on Friday that the foundation of the bridge had washed away.
He explained that a team was at the site and was working to correct the problem.
A resident visiting the area said that when he left Lethem on Friday there was power there but on his arrival home in St Ignatius there was no electricity.
President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) Daniel Gajie told Stabroek News yesterday that while the bridge is being fixed the Lethem Power Company sourced fuel from neighbouring Brazil to cushion the fuel shortage.
However, he said the amount would only last for about two days.
With Wednesday and Thursday being holidays it is uncertain what measures would be in place to ensure that if the bridge is not fixed, Region 9 residents don’t have a power-less Christmas.
Commuters have stated that the bridge was visibly deteriorating and was seemingly done poorly. “… It started way before but it wasn’t that bad,” an official at the GuyBraz Bus Service had said.
The RCCI has reiterated its call for an improved maintenance regime for the Linden-Lethem road.
“Every time they fix a bridge, you don’t really have confidence that it will last for any period,” Gajie told Stabroek News on Saturday.
He called on the Minister of Transport and the works engineers to pay more attention to the design and maintenance of the roadway.
“The road has not been properly maintained for over three years…the quality of work is very poor,” he added. Gajie said that there needs to be a regular maintenance programme with quality work done and called for a comprehensive work programme in 2014. “The top-up specifications is not working,” he said, adding that they were dissatisfied with the entire maintenance programme. As soon as it rains, the road deteriorates, he asserted.
In September, the RCCI had called for more regular and improved maintenance of the road to cope with the increase in heavy traffic. Gajie had told Stabroek News that over the past four years the volume and type of traffic has increased with larger trucks with heavier loads now traversing the laterite trail regularly.
Despite this, he had said, there has not been an increase in the number of times that maintenance of the road is carried out with this usually being done once a year.
In addition, there has not been an improvement in the quality of the maintenance works with workers using the same method they employed five years ago with the gravel just being scattered on the road and no grading done.
