Ministry: Rehab works ongoing on Chatham landslip

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Residents blocked the Southern Main road, Chatham to highlight the poor road conditions and a landslip in the area. –

Residents of Chatham Village, Cedros, held fiery protests on Monday morning, calling on the government to fix a massive landslip along the Southern Main Road.

They complained that the already bad roads are getting worse because of the landslip which itself continues to worsen.

In response, the Ministry of Works and Transport said rehabilitation works were ongoing at a landslip near the 96km mark, contrary to comments in the public domain.The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023, a statement from the ministry said.

The statement said ongoing bad weather had led to high saturation levels which pose a challenge to the rehabilitation work.

Also, naturally occurring springs near the site caused the ministry and its contractor to revise the strategy they had intended to use to carry out the project.

On Sunday, Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan visited the site with geotechnical personnel who were developing a permanent solution for the landslip.

The ministry called on the public to bear with the ministry as it works to address the issue.

On Sunday, via Facebook, Point Fortin MP Kennedy Richards Jr gave an update on the landslip.

He said previous plans for the project were changed. Due to the soil’s porosity and other factors, the engineers would no longer be using steel for auger piling to hold the retaining walls.

“They would instead use the sand embankment method. That should be started within a fortnight,” he said.

“Some people are scared to pass, and rightfully so. It is a tough situation for people living beyond that route.”

He also said there were challenges like having fuel supplied to the area.Earlier in the year, stabilisation had started and later stopped owing to changes in the project’s original scope.

“I am not in charge of the work. PURE (the Programme for Upgrading Road Efficiency) has capable engineers to instruct the constactor on what to do and how to do it,” Richards said.

Meanwhile, repair work on the massive landslip at Coromandel, Cedros, is almost completed.He added that all other landslips from Chatham to Icacos would be addressed in phases.

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