Mabaruma residents want their deplorable roads to be fixed

Oct 17, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
The Mabaruma residents of Region 1 (Barima- Waini) are crying out bitterly over the extremely bad conditions of their roads that need fixing urgently or rehabilitation by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure because their livelihood is drastically being affected.
The residents are claiming that what is even worse is that they have no one in authority to complain to, neither to represent them on the critical issues that are affecting their communities.
The Mabaruma – Kumaka roadway to Wauna and beyond is in a disgraced state of neglect with lots of small and large potholes and when the rain falls, pools of water take over the entire road way impassable to the disgust of residents and vehicle drivers. This includes the road to Barabina community which has a never- ending problem of continued flooding and to date has not being fixed as yet.
The extremely bad and neglected state of the Mabaruma roads has caused and is causing transportation cost to rise steeply and what is even worse is that taxi and minibus drivers now think it very hard to transport residents to the Wauna community and beyond because of the horrible condition of the road which is destroying their vehicles.
But if taxi drivers decide to take passengers from Kumaka to Wauna, the cost is now $5000 and from Kumaka to White Creek, not far from Wauna the cost is now $8000.
The minibus cost per seat is now $400 plus an extra $100 for freight as per small bag from Kumaka to Wauna community.
Transportation costs are killing the residents of Mabaruma. The trucks and tractors are further destroying the roads and these may soon be the only vehicles to travel to the Wauna community and beyond. The terrible conditions of the road from Wauna community to Kumaka (business centre) and Mabaruma Township are severely affecting the livelihood of the Wauna community residents who have to travel to seek medical attention, school children have to attend school, the buying of foodstuff, conducting business and to meet with RDC Officials.
With the rise in fuel prices, transportation cost will further increase, also the cost for every conceivable item which will definitely increase the cost of living in the Mabaruma sub-region.
The Mabaruma residents are therefore calling on the Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson to visit the Mabaruma sub-region urgently so as to inspect the condition of the roads and have them fixed within the shortest possible time.

Peter Persaud.

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