Latest update April 5th, 2025 5:50 AM
Latest News
- Exxon admits to operating above production rates in EIAs
- Oil sinks to pandemic lows; metals, soybeans slump as China retaliates against U.S. Tariffs
- Israel has turned two-thirds of Gaza into no-go zones, UN says
- ‘If the President’s award means anything, he would terminate Ramson’- Protestors
- Power China, Kalpataru sign US$422M contracts for extension of transmission lines for GPL
Taxpayers $$$ being wasted on Bartica/Potaro road – says youth group
“Enough is enough. Not another cent of tax dollars must go towards the yearly patching and
Part of the 7 Mile road which is very hard to traverse.
repairing of the Bartica-Potaro Road which is continuously being eroded. That money could have been used to make an asphalt surface or a heavy-duty all weather highway.”
This is the contention of the Bartica United Youth Development Group (BUYDG) through its President, Micah Williams, who was speaking on behalf of the residents of the mining community. They now want the authorities to make a heavy duty road and stop wasting tax dollars to do repair work every year from One Mile to the Sherima Crossing.
BUYDG is appealing to the Region Seven Chairman, Gordon Bradford, to fulfill his “constitutional mandate to look after the welfare and interest of the Region Seven residents.”
He made reference to all the protest actions of bus operators over the conditions of the road and an agreement in 2012 between the bus operators and Mr. Bradford who led the Regional Democratic Office (NDC) team.
The team, he said, had failed to fulfill the September 2012 agreement and commitments made, which stated that corrective works will be done from One Mile to Five Miles Potaro Road. “To date no work was done from Four to Five Miles Potaro Road. Further, it was agreed by the parties that the RDC will continue to maintain the road and not allow it to go back to the current deplorable surface conditions.”
According to the BUYDG, the implementation of a highway will boost development in the gold and
A vehicle maneuvering the craters
diamond mining sectors and reduce the cost of “food stuff, while fuel supplies can be transported from Bartica to operation sites in a timely manner.”
“Whenever tourists and other persons travel to Bartica by airplane to visit the Region and land at the Five Mile airstrip, as soon as they join the transportation to go to other locations in Bartica, most times the first thing they observe is the horrible state of the Potaro Road.
BUYDG had also called on the Finance Ministry and Public Works Ministry to include the rehabilitation of the Bartica/Potaro road in the 2014 Budget.
Williams said that the government got approval for $1 Billion for Hinterland roads but “to date no work has started on the Potaro Road which is in its known/regular deplorable condition.”
“The Potaro road from One to Four Miles was repaired/ patched in September 2013. Within three weeks the road ended up back to its normal horrible and shoddy condition.”
In September 2012 the road was repaired from One Mile to Four Miles and two weeks after the road ended up back to its deplorable condition.
To maintain the road the body is suggesting the implementation of toll gates from Seven Miles Potaro Road to the Sherima Crossing. The revenue will recover the construction cost of the highway.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The One-Man Republic
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- There exists, tucked away on the margin of maps and minds, a country that has perfected... more
The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- Recent media stories have suggested that King Charles III could “invite” the United... more
Weekend Cartoon
