Industry residents fed up with state of roads

Large potholes filled with water occupy the entire width of one of the roads in Industry
Large potholes filled with water occupy the entire width of one of the roads in Industry

Residents of Industry say they are “fed up” with the condition of the roads which they have to traverse daily and are calling on the relevant authorities to effect the necessary repairs.

When Stabroek News visited the area on Monday, large potholes, which spanned the entire width of the road, were filled with water, making them virtually impassable. Other sections were decorated with smaller holes along the length of the road which made it difficult for vehicles to traverse the area.  Other roads had spans which were completely worn away, leaving behind mere sand and mud, which would usually make it very difficult for vehicles to pass when it rains.

“It’s really overbearing. It’s not like it’s a short stretch that got some lil potholes. It’s long, long parts of the road that got big, big holes that you got to be real careful when you driving, especially when it rains. The holes so deep that you could probably swim in there when it full up,” said Justin Singh, a resident, while expressing his frustration with the condition of the roads yesterday to Stabroek News.

The man explained that “99% of the time” taxi drivers would refuse to traverse the roads because of their conditions which would force the residents to have to walk to their homes. “It’s not about just that they don’t want to drop you in. Sometimes, most times when it rains, all the holes does be flood up and so it’s even difficult to walk on the road without getting your foot wet. Plus when it’s night and you can’t see properly it just gets worse. It doesn’t make sense that we have to endure this type of road in 2017. It makes no sense at all,” the man lamented.

He also pointed out that those residents in the area who own vehicles have to be constantly spending extra money behind repairing them, because of the condition of the roads, which usually “bruk them up on a regular [basis].”

“From the moment you drive into them holes your shocks getting damage because they so deep. You just drop in and there’s nothing you can do about it. Plus the edges are sharp and so they damage your tyres too, and is not like you can buy used tyres now. It’s a whole new one you have to spend behind so people are wasting unnecessary money all the time,” another resident explained.

“What if somebody around the area has an emergency and a taxi or one of those emergency vehicles has to come through? It’s going to be very bad, because sometimes it takes just couple seconds to save a life, and those couple seconds could be delayed because of the condition of the road,” the man added.

According to the residents, the roads have been in such a deplorable state for years, and there has been no attempt to fix them, either by the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) or the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.

Several attempts by Stabroek News to contact the Chairman of the Industry/Plaisance NDC proved futile.