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Benn tells Parliament Burma Road will require $80M
… says Regional Chairman has $9M for interim emergency works
By Gary Eleazar
Minister of Public Works and Communication, Robeson Benn, has indicated to the National Assembly that repairs to the severely damaged Burma Road in Berbice, will require some $80M for effective repairs and that the Regional Chairman currently has $9M in his coffers to undertake emergency works in the interim.
Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn
The Public Works Minister was at the start of yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly, responding to former Commissioner of Police now Parliamentarian, Winston Felix, who was seeking clarifications on the Ministry’s plan for the repairs of the road.
Felix called the current conditions of the road intolerable, when he was given the opportunity by the Speaker of the National Assembly to pose an oral question to the Minister.
Benn informed the House, that the road falls under the ambit of the Ministry of Local Government and as such, would be responsible for its maintenance.
The Public Works Minister indicated that some two months ago the Ministry did effect some repairs to the road even as he reiterated that, “the road is indeed under the Ministry of Local Government.”
According to Benn there are some peculiar circumstances currently lending to the rapid deterioration of the road.
He blamed the inclement weather and the fact that there has been a late planting of rice in the locale. This, coupled with the fact that there is a compounded problem with rice Mills in the area, has added to the situation.
This, Benn said, has lent to the farmers having to transport overloaded trucks with rice to the Mill in the locale.
He said that given the problems with the other Mills, farmers have had to resort to utilizing the Mill in that area and this has caused an increase in the number of heavily laden trucks traversing the road and damaging it in the process.
“We did do an estimation,” the Minister assured, as he indicated that the money required for such a project would be “in the order of $80M.”
He said that the Regional Chairman has at his disposal some $9M to do repair works to the road should favourable conditions be experienced.
Two Mondays ago the state of the Burma Road attracted a boisterous protest primarily by the very truckers being blamed for the destruction of the road.
At that time they had vowed to intensify their protest action to press their demands for a proper road.
The protest action at the time was triggered after a number of trucks laden with tons of rice got stuck in a deplorable section of the road, effectively halting the operations of the Saj Rice Mill.
The truckers have expressed concerns with the works already being done by contractor, Joe Bacchus, who is paid millions of dollars annually to repair the three-mile stretch of road and are calling for his removal.
They are demanding that a completely new road be built, since they are convinced that the Region Five authorities are being penny wise and pound foolish.
“This road is so bad that we fastening, breaking up we truck, we taking one and a half hour on five miles of road. We hear that they spending millions maintaining this road; we don’t know how much money, but they always say they spending a lot of money when they repairing it,” said Ganesh, one of the truck owners whose vehicle was stuck in the road.
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