Minibus drivers from Sophia yesterday parked their buses in protest over the deplorable condition of the roads in ‘A’ to ‘E’ fields in Sophia.
“These aren’t potholes, these are kahari [saucepan] holes,” was how Gideon Scott, a minibus driver described the roads in ‘C’ Field, Sophia.
He told Stabroek News that there is no proper road in ‘C’ Field and raising the bus fare was not an option as it would put pressure on a lot of the residents who cannot even afford to pay the current fare. “The fare right now is $80 and a lot of people can’t even pay that,” he said.
He said the state of the road is forcing them to spend more than they earn every month. “Every week I have to change my spring and it costs $12,000. Multiply that by four and see what you get. The road is damaging our vehicles and nothing is being done about it. If is not my spring, is something else I have to be changing every minute,” he said.
No agency is accepting responsibility for the roads.
When contacted, Works Minister Robeson Benn said that the roads in Sophia fall under the City Council or the Ministry of Housing and Water. He said that his ministry is currently building a bridge in ‘B’ Field that will go through Tucville so as to ease the burden of drivers having to travel all the way back to Sophia. He added that nothing can be done now without wasting money. “The roads in these areas are not designed to have these huge trucks driving on them. That is why they are having rapid early failure,” he said.
Mayor Hamilton Green, in a brief comment, said that although the council sympathises with the bus drivers, Sophia has not yet been handed over to the council and as such is the government’s responsibility.
Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker, when contacted yesterday, said that when he heard about the protests he contacted the RDC and was told that there are no roads on schedule for Sophia. He added that the little they do is through the RDC and that this falls under the Ministry of Public Works or Ministry of Housing. Stabroek News attempted to contact Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali, but was unsuccessful.
Several drivers said they feel the government was bypassing them and doing roads in other communities.
“To put salt in the wound, they doing Cummings Lodge road… so we want to know if hogs and dogs live here and people live suh?” Vincent Paul, one of the drivers vented. “These roads were done like two or three years ago and even then they didn’t build them good. We are paying rates and taxes like anybody else. Sophia people working with the government; paying tax when the month done and it is most unfair to them.”
He stated that if something happened in the area, the police will take “a year and a day to meet there”. The protest he said will continue until their problems are fixed once and for all. So far he said no government official had gone to speak with them, but he hoped the protest will attract them. “If we have to come back tomorrow we will come. We are going to protest until we get perfect roads.”
Concerned residents also came out to protest calling on the government to pay more attention to the people of Sophia and their concerns. “We have a nursery school till at the back of ‘C’ Field and if anything happen to one of them children the ambulance will take forever to get there. This government eyes pass we. Is not one road, is all the roads. All of them cross streets deh in a bad state,” one resident told Stabroek News.
