Sinanan: Rousillac road repairs will get done

SEETA PERSAD

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan yesterday assured repairs will be done along Rousillac Main Road despite a challenge with funds.

“I am giving the assurance that repairs will be done on the road. This is based on the availability of funding,” Sinanan told Sunday Newsday yesterday. Sinanan, who is overseas, is expected to return tomorrow.

On Friday, Rousillac villagers staged another protest, burning tyres, mattresses and old furniture, over dilapidated road conditions.

The villagers’ action caused a traffic pile up on Rousillac Main Road and the Southern Main Road affecting commuters travelling from La Brea and Point Fortin to San Fernando.

Last October, Rousillac villagers swore to keep blocking the roads until the Ministry of Works and Transport made good on a promise to repair Rousillac Main Road. As early as 5 am on Friday, a group of villagers dragged debris across the main road and using gas, they set the pile on fire.

Villager Davendra Singh said after the October protest, workmen from the ministry filled the potholes with gravel and sand but recent rains widened the potholes.

“With the heavy rainfall, all the material washed away leaving deeper and wider holes in the road,” he said.

Sinanan confirmed recent rains had set back repairs.

“We have had unprecedented levels of rainfall last month which further damaged the roadway so repair work was delayed, so weather conditions permitting, work will start soon,” he said yesterday.

La Brea MP Nicole Olivierre had chided Rousillac constituents for not contacting her before staging the protest.

“I believe they should at least contact me before resorting to stage this protest and cause this kind of traffic pile-up on this major road,” Olivierre said on Friday.

Olivierre, who in the past has been at odds with constituents over their protest action, had also assured said the ministry would start work on the road this year.

Taxi driver Mark Lewis, who operates on the La Brea to San Fernando route, complained the road is so bad that on any given day, traffic flows at a snail’s pace. Lewis said heavy equipment driven along the Southern Main Road on the way to the industrial areas of La Brea and Point Fortin is the cause for the “badly broken” road.

Parents on their way from Point Fortin and La Brea to San Fernando to buy school supplies for their children, who resume classes tomorrow after the Christmas holidays, waited for hours in traffic because of the protest.

Siparia Regional Corporation chairman Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh on Friday criticised Government saying it continued to fail citizens by not providing the services they need to live comfortably.

“After the last protest action, a lot of patchwork was done on the roads but this did not last very long,” he said, adding that more than 500 residents were affected.