Protest over bad roads, broken mains at Penal Rock Road

Black Immigrant Daily News

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Penal Rock road residents staged a fiery protest along the nine mile mark, to highlight poor road conditions and lack of water in the area. Photo courtesy Steve Lezama

As she joined her constituents on Wednesday morning to protest over a broken water main which caused a major depression along Penal Rock Road, MP Michelle Benjamin confessed, “I am fed up of the same thing over and over and over again.”

The Moruga/Tableland MP said seven times in the past two months, WASA has repaired a broken main which has now undermined the road, causing a major landslip, leaving the road almost impassable.

A wooden house, owned by Razim Mohammed is also in danger of collapsing if the land movement continues.

Frustrated because her proposals to the ministries of Works and Public Utilities and the regional corporations have done little to alleviate the situation, Benjamin said she could not hold her constituents back from exercising their right to protest to bring attention to their circumstances.

She said they are loath to protest, as all they need is for the road to be made passable and for water to flow through their taps.

“But it is almost like the people of this constituency are forgotten. I am standing here amongst them and I am hearing the same cry over and over again: ‘MP, we cannot continue like this.’ Goods trucks don’t want to come in the area, children cannot go to school, taxis refuse to work this route.”

Moruga/Tableland MP Michelle Benjamin stand watch as Penal Rock road residents staged a fiery protest along the nine mile mark, to highlight poor road conditions and lack of water in the area Photos courtesy Steve Lezama

She said there are no maxi taxi drivers contracted by the Ministry of Education to transport children, as they have refused to accept the $10 per child that they claim the ministry proposed.

Owing to the increase in fuel prices and the poor state of the road, Benjamin said parents are complaining that it costs $60 a day per child to leave Marac to go to school in Barrackpore.

“There is another access point from Moruga, but that road is also plagued with landslips.”

As dawn broke on Wednesday, residents with placards gathered between the 8 ¼ and 8 ½-mile marks on Penal Rock Road. Tyres which were later set on fire, along with tree branches and concrete blocks, were put across the road to highlight its poor condition, which threatens to cut off their access.

Police arrived and a backhoe was used to remove ash and partially burnt debris from the road.

Spokesman Steve Lezama told Newsday, “Like WASA fixing that water line with spit. Is seven times in two months they repair it, but it is still leaking and the water is undermining the road and the land is shifting. The movement has left craters on the road.

The road has also dropped by some 18 inches, leaving only a small portion passable for one lane of traffic at a time. Mr Mohammed’s house has almost split in half. His family is still in the house because they have nowhere else to go.”

Lezama said the road is a major thoroughfare for people from Penal, Siparia, Princes Town and Moruga.

“This is also my access route. People pass through here from St Mary’s, because it is much shorter than to go all the way through Princes Town. So this road is a major thoroughfare.”

On Tuesday, he said a team from the Ministry of Works was on site assessing the damage and work to be done. On Wednesday a truckload of material was dropped off for some temporary measure.

Photo courtesy Steve Lezama

“That material was basically just slush and mud that could not do anything. What is required is major infrastructural work, a retaining wall or some steel piping, along with some big boulder baskets to stop the erosion.

“Before this is done, however, WASA has to get its act together and fix that leaking main.”

Benjamin said she will continue to engage the various governmental agencies to bring much-needed relief for her constituents.

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