Road collapses in Moruga, residents blame WASA

RESIDENTS of Indian Walk, Moruga are blaming the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) for a major landslip which, on Tuesday night, destroyed part of the Moruga Road making it impassable.

Drivers and commuters had to take alternative routes to get in and out of several communities in Moruga.

Up to late yesterday, a team of workers from WASA was on site repairing the damage.

A house, owned by Carol Young, 61, suffered major structural damage. Last month she and her family moved out because it was deemed unfit to live in. The family is calling for financial compensation from WASA. Other homes are being threatened and residents fear for their safety and their properties. They said recurring leaks from WASA underground infrastructure for the past few years caused the land to move rapidly.

Young said, as of September the problems began worsening and she made several reports to WASA. Although WASA workers visited and did work, the problem continued. “WASA took samples on samples and kept saying the water was not theirs. Even without rain, the place was wet. In September, things started to get worse. First it was seeping, then we were hearing the water gushing.

“It made a pond behind the house. The house started to crack up more and they said we have to move.”

The mother of five lives in the two-storey house with daughter Arliss Young-Ellis, son-in-law and one-month-old granddaughter.

A few days before Christmas, they moved out as the house began to sink rapidly. They are renting a house in Third Company, Moruga. “We are paying our own rent, no one is helping us. Because of the stress and worries with the house, I ended up in the hospital on December 29. Only yesterday I was discharged, and by night the road in front of the house collapsed.”

Officials from the Housing Development Corporation had visited and promised to allocate a house weeks ago. “We are not getting a free house, we have to pay which we are not supposed to. Upstairs of my home I have three bedrooms, two toilets and baths, a big kitchen, a back porch and front gallery.” At about 7 pm on Tuesday, the road collapsed. About two hours earlier, WASA workers had completed some work at the site which is part of the Moruga Road rehabilitation project. In October 2017 when Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan launched the project, he said it had an estimated cost of $178 million.

Yesterday, Young-Ellis said: “The week of Christmas, HDC officials came, spoke with me and they have all our information. The woman was frightened to walk into the house. We put up a wall which cost $150,000, June last year, to try to save the house. It is gone now.”

Moruga MP Dr Lovell Francis told reporters HDC is in the process of allocating a unit for the affected family. The road collapsed because of leaks in the lines.

“The Minister of Works said repairs will be done by today. Our hope is that WASA would not take too long and then PURE and the contractors can do their work,” Francis said.

There are two lines —a 12-inch and a16-inch main — under the road. The MP said he has been “clamouring with WASA” to have the two underground lines placed above ground and is discussing with the company ways to find solutions. WASA officials promised to comment via a media release.