New traffic restrictions will hamper rice production - Millers

New traffic restrictions will hamper rice production – Millers

Jul 07, 2020 News

Rice millers are worried about the new road restrictions that the Guyana Police Force is seeking to implement which will restrict motor lorries and container trucks from traversing the main roadways at a specific time.

A Container Truck

Recently, the Guyana Police Force announced that they will soon roll out a new strategy, one which will restrict drivers of motor lorries and container trucks from using roadways in Georgetown, East Bank Demerara, East Coast Demerara, West Bank Demerara and West Coast Demerara. The restrictions will be between 07:00-09:00 hrs; 11:00-13:00 hrs, and 15:00-17:00 in order to ease traffic congestion during those hours, which are referred to as ‘peak hours.’
The release stated that the Traffic Chief, Senior Superintendent Linden Isles said during a meeting with owners and drivers of motor lorries/container trucks at the Soesdyke Junction that the one of the major causes of traffic congestion is the increasingly high volume of vehicles that are being imported and registered every year.
Isles also said that the apparent inability of drivers to cope with overcrowded environments and overburdened infrastructure is indicative that our roadways are in a state of constant catastrophe and that the limitations of our roads force drivers to manoeuvre their vehicles of all classes, especially large motor lorries, in an often dangerous manner to other road users.
During an interview with Kaieteur News, several rice millers said that the timing of the restriction would hamper their rice distribution based on the distance they have to travel from Corentyne, Berbice to Georgetown on a regular basis and also they have to accommodate the working of the mills that supply the trucks with goods to transport. Rajindra Persaud, the owner of Nand Persaud & Company, which is the leading rice producing company in Guyana, said “Something really needs to be implemented…this new restriction that they are trying to implement will severely affect exports.”
Persaud added that the wharf opens at a certain hour and to keep in line with the road restrictions would be impossible and to make matters worse, his trucks travel to Georgetown from Monday to Friday.
Another concerned miller said, “What will happen when we have deliveries to make? They really need to come up with a better plan than that… and the hours that they want us off the road, that’s going to affect our businesses.”
Other millers that traverse the roadway using trucks to deliver rice shared the same views and they are calling on the authorities to review the restrictions.

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