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Truckers stranded on impassable “mines road”
An impassable “mines’ road has led to angry and frustrated truckers calling for the urgent rehabilitation of the thoroughfare and the immediate removal of the $5000 toll they pay at the booth at Kara Kara, Linden.
This slushy quagmire is part of the mines road
The truckers took a reporter from this newspaper to see the road, which has deteriorated to such a deplorable state, that their trucks are getting stuck in the huge craters, and sometimes remain there for days before they are eventually pulled out.
Compounding their frustration is the fact that the stretch of road which runs parallel to Nottinghamshire has now become impassable, and residents of that community are denying them the use of the detour which runs through the village.
The villagers have complained that the heavy trucks destroy the road which they are forced to repair themselves.
Two Sundays ago, residents faced off with a truck driver who was attempting to use the detour to get unto the main thoroughfare leading to central Mackenzie.
“I was coming through here, and the residents stop me, and say that I got to turn back, because is a private road and they spend money and fix it dey self, so we can’t pass through here. So when I turn back now, the culvert and the edge of the road break away, and the truck turn on the side. About two weeks ago another truck turn over not far from here. Now because of the terrible state of the road, we have to be spending a lot of money, on repairs and maintenance. Our trucks breaking up by the day, and we have to be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the driver stated.
He pointed to another truck owner who he claimed “only the other day he had to spend close to $1mil because the whole back deferential on his truck break up. Council collecting $5000 from us truckers to use the road, but they ain’t doing nothing to fix the road. They say that they are not responsible for the maintenance of the road, is the Ministry of Public works, but nobody looking at the road. So we suffering, because now the people in this area saying that we can’t use their road (detour).”
Trucks that could not traverse the impassable mines road and were denied the use of the nearby detour.
“What we suppose to do? We have work to do, and we can’t traverse the main road because it so terrible, the trucks getting stuck in them, and now this internal road (detour) is the only alternative, but the residents saying we can’t use it, so right now we really frustrated. If you go on the main road now, you gon see trucks line off that can’t go nowhere, is a long time now this road suppose to fix, but nobody ain’t doing anything. Is either Council fix this road, or they stop taking toll, because it ain’t fair to us,” the driver explained.
He noted that Chairman of Region 10 Sharma Solomon had recently promised, at a meeting at Coomacka, that the Region would have to fix the road, even though no money was budgeted for it.
Sharma had stated however that if the resources available at the Region are not adequate to fix the road, ‘residents would have to do much more than clap and ask to have the road fixed.’
Solomon later pointed out in an interview, that the truck drivers that are now complaining about the road are the ones responsible for getting it in the state it is in presently, and should get together and pool their resources to help in its rehabilitation. Over the years, both residents of Coomacka, and nearby villages, along with others who are forced to use the mines road have been clamouring for the rehabilitation of the thoroughfare, but mostly to no avail.
Linden to Kwakwani Road
Meanwhile, residents of Kwakwani and Ituni are also calling for the urgent rehabilitation of this important thoroughfare, which has deteriorated once again. This road has over the years been a source of much contention and discomfort for residents who have no alternative route to get to and from the mining town of Linden. According to Kwakwani resident Jocelyn Morian, the trip to Linden that used to take about two hours is now taking twice that time. Morian opined that because the shoulders of the road are higher than the road itself, water accumulates on the road and contributes significantly to its destruction. (Enid Joaquin)
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