Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Less than six months later…New Stewartville road deteriorates
Six months have not elapsed since the rehabilitation of School Road at Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, but the road is fast reverting to its former unacceptable state. At least this is according to residents of the area.
Yesterday, the residents did not hesitate to raise their concerns about the road which they said was rehabilitated by a contractor who had admitted that he had never constructed a road before.
The residents further revealed that they are aware that the man had to borrow equipment from a known contractor to complete the job.
Regional Chairman, Julius Faerber
One resident related that he was elated when news reached the neighbourhood that the loam road they had utilised for years would be upgraded. But from the time the work began several residents recognised that it was a case of substandard work.
“We had to report this man because somebody see that he de putting on the tar before the crusher run. The Region people come and he had to scrape up all the tar then put down the crusher run and grade it into the loam.”
And the tar, according to the residents, was of a quality that left much to be desired. “The tar that they use on the road is like none I ever see before in my life…de thing spill on me clothes, because I does walk and sell, and if you see how it thin and spotty, spotty; was like water,” another resident divulged.
A drive along the near 200-metre length yesterday revealed about 10 burgeoning potholes, a situation the residents claimed the relevant authorities are not heeding despite their many complaints.
A visit to the contractor’s Gap Road, La Jalousie home ended after this newspaper was informed that he would be away until Friday. Added to that, this newspaper was told that the contractor is no longer undertaking road works but has rather moved into the field of building construction.
Regional Chairman, Julius Faerber, noted that he is not aware that the road has started deteriorating. No complaints have reached his office, he said.
However he revealed that since the road was rehabilitated with crusher run it was never intended to be permanent. Though unable to say at what cost the road was constructed (as he was out of the office) Faerber said that through the Region’s budgetary allocation a decision was taken to upgrade the loam road.
“They are not permanent, after a while with the weather you will find that the crusher run would wash away and things like deterioration can occur.”
One of the many burgeoning pot holes
By next year, he said, the School Road should be eligible for a double bitumen surface. Faerber further countered the claims of residents that the contract for the road was given to an inexperienced and unequipped contractor. He explained that the contracts are usually awarded following a tender process, which also indicates the contractors’ ability to undertake the project on which the tender is based.
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