Work to repair sections of the Lethem to Aishalton road, which were recently damaged by flash flooding, is expected to start today, Region Nine Chairman Brian Allicock says.
Just over a week ago, heavy rains that caused flash flooding just outside of Lethem destroyed a culvert and washed away a bridge leading to Aishalton, making the road temporarily impassable. However, with the floodwater having receded, Allicock yesterday said the Aishalton Village Council started “fetching boulders” to the section where the bridge once stood to allow vehicles to safely pass.
“So by tomorrow evening, it should be passable completely again. What they [Aishalton residents] did before was to take down some stuff from the higher part of the road and now they are setting boulders to put in the deep spots and using some anchoring for the culverts with the same boulders to keep a passage for small vehicles,” Allicock explained, while noting that there continues to be intense rainfall, which threatens the road.
Toshao of Aishalton Michael Thomas had explained that even though there was another access road to the community, it is in a deplorable state and the journey takes longer, which would result in travellers having to spend more to reach Aishalton.
Allicock said that while the Regional Administration would usually look after road repairs, it does not have the requisite funds for the current work and had to call in the Ministry of Public Infrastructure for assistance as a result.
“I think it is JR Ranch that took up the contract and I expect them to mobilise by today and by tomorrow [today] they should be able to make it passable. Right now minibuses can’t really traverse or larger vehicles and the lorries are using the other passage that is referred to as old road but it’s a longer way,” Allicock said, while emphasising that they do not have money and had to depend on Central Government to give them the “okay” to go ahead.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has said that it along with the Ministry of Natural Resources was assessing the damage done to the access road and that engineers were on the ground and working along with the Regional Executive Officer on a way forward.
Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman had also noted that they are working on some solutions and have exchanged information about new technology from Brazil to build culverts since they don’t want to apply a temporary fix to the problem. “There are engineering companies in Guyana that have partnerships with Brazilian companies and we are exploring that,” Trotman said.
