HOUSING AND YOU: Illegal sand dumping and road damage

Oct 02, 2011 News

By Leonard Gildarie

This week my mind was running on a number of issues to write on but a simmering incident over the past days persuaded me that there is a more pertinent matter to be discussed at this time.
I must admit that it has made me angry. My family wanted me to shut up and stay out.
I live at La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara. As was evidenced my earlier articles, I have become fiercely protective of this dear country of ours.
I hate to see waste, damage due to carelessness or what my countrymen or women would simply describe as a “don’t-care-attitude”.
About five lots from mine, construction started a few weeks ago on a home.

The careless dumping of sand and other materials on roadways could cause untold damage to infrastructure, bringing down the value of homes.

During the course of the night, seven truckloads were dumped on the roadway. It covered more than half of the road. Wood, concrete blocks and other materials were also stored there. I was forced to take another street.
You may think I am a nitpicker. Maybe. The problem is that I waited for almost a year for my street to be paved. During that time, the mess to the yard and the vehicle and the general unsightliness around my home was not something that anyone would be happy about.
So it was with much anticipation and excitement that I greeted our newly paved road. Millions were spent on the roads which government, at the signing of the contracts, urged residents to monitor and protect.
I spoke to the gentleman whose land it was and he assured that the sand was only there for a short while and that a piece of equipment was due to remove it shortly. The “shortly” was more than a week. I did not manage to see anybody working on the site during the morning hours I would leave for work.
What was shocking was that vehicles, instead of taking another street, decided to drive on the corner or the shoulders of the road and the damage was unbelievable. The sand was removed on Thursday.
Two houselots away, someone decided to clear the drains. The stuff cleared was piled along the shoulders of the road. The rains then came and the road was flooded in that section. I asked the people there who was in charge…nobody knew.
Two streets away, on a main connecting avenue, a truck dumped about four loads completely blocking the way.
On Friday, I saw a Bobcat removing the sand and filling a yard. The road was badly damaged from the equipment. The shoulder of that avenue was no longer there and the depression was evident.
The Bobcat operator pretended not to notice the damage he had caused to the road and suggested it must have been there before.
So I am upset.
I drove through a number of the streets in the area yesterday. The story is the same. The dumping of the sand is not so bad. It is the fact that it is not being removed in a timely manner that is unforgivable. I think this is one of the biggest reasons for access roads and streets in new housing schemes deteriorating so quickly.
What I found so incomprehensible is that homeowners seem totally oblivious of the fact that they will have to live where the damage is being done.
I managed to make contact with a senior engineer in the Ministry of Housing. The folks there are perplexed and unsure what to do.
“It is a big problem for us. We have spoken to people over and over again. The most we can do is issue a fine now,” he explained.
The harsh reality is that it is unlikely that government will be returning anytime soon to the recently paved street to conduct repairs. My point is that we have a responsibility not only to the community where we live but to the country, to value the money spent. Why would we not want to see beautiful streets, clean parapets and cleared drains.We must accept some of the responsibilities too.
Enjoy the weekend and don’t forget to write us at [email protected] or call at 225-8491.