Less than one year after the One – Five Miles, Bartica-Potaro Road was repaired, residents and bus drivers say that they are back to square one and they are prepared to protest again if they are given the same shoddy work.
They are currently calling for the construction and establishment of a new road since the current one is in a deplorable state and it is destroying vehicles that traverse the route and also putting pressure on commuters who have to pay huge taxi fares.
Chairman of the Bartica branch of the United Minibus Union Micah Williams said bus drivers are looking to increase the fare by $100 if the road is not permanently fixed. The union, he said, did not want to go in this direction but the deplorable roads are leaving them no choice.
Williams said they have recommended the establishment of a community committee made up of union representatives, Ministry of Public Works officials and the residents of the community to ensure that proper work is done on the road.
He also said drivers are demanding that the Potaro Road be widened by an extra six feet (three on each side) and drains dug to take off excess water when it rains.
One concerned resident said the work they are doing makes no sense because every two months they need to keep doing it over when they should have done it properly in the first place.
Another frustrated commuter who doesn’t live in Bartica but uses the road every day said that the road is not good at all. “Last year they say how they do the road, but that road ain’t do. They just throw little crusher run on a little piece of the road and telling we how they fix it. When rain fall the road breaking away steady. They need to take their time and do this road so that they won’t need to be coming back every two morning,” the commuter said. Last year residents had dug a ditch across the Potaro Road cutting off access to the interior to protest the deplorable state of the road.
Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon last year had stated that $16.4 million had been set aside for temporary repairs to the road and a contractor from the coastland was to have started permanent works. Residents also highlighted other developments that they want for the community. Some of these include a bigger hospital, the establishment of a technical institute and proper sporting facilities.
