MP calls on Works Ministry to prioritise Mandingo Road repairs

Moruga/Tableland MP Michelle Benjamin has called on the government to "prioritise" its road projects, saying it should first fix the most deplorable roads.

Road rehabilitation was expected to resume this week at Indian Walk, near the Mt Pleasant London Baptist Church in Moruga.

The opposition MP called on the Works Ministry instead to use the funding for this project on the impassable Mandingo Road via Princes Town.

On midmorning on Thursday, Benjamin joined a small group of residents at Moruga Main Road in Indian Walk. They burnt debris in the road to highlight their plight.

"We are asking this government to show some compassion for the residents of Mandingo and to save homes before the onset of the rainy season," Benjamin said.

She told reporters a contractor was awarded the project at Indian Walk last year and did some work.

"It is relatively smooth, and the funding allocated for it can be used to facilitate the fixing of Mandingo and Lengua Roads and even the Naparima/Mayaro Road in Robert Village in Tableland," Benjamin said. "If they cannot fix Mandingo, then they cannot fix here."

In December, the ministry closed Mandingo Road owing to a major landslip. In 2019, a house collapsed due to continuous movement over the years. Several homes are now threatened.

Benjamin said the retaining wall near the church at Indian Walk is "structurally sound" and could withstand another rainy season. Other roads like Mandingo Road and Cachipe, she said, cannot.

"There are five immediate homes on the verge of collapse in Mandingo. It shows that the government is being a little vindictive and shows a lack of prioritisations," Benjamin said.

As a temporary fix, the ministry has promised to restore one-lane traffic by shoring and piling. Geo-technical surveys are going on and work has not yet started.

In 2017, the ministry started the $178 million Moruga Road rehabilitation project.

While work had started on "certain roads," the MP said most roads in her constituency are deplorable.

Some residents of Langua and Mandingo Roads were at the protest.

Shamina Mohamed, who lives in Mandingo Road and whose home is threatened by the landslip, said from what officials at the site told her, it would take months before repair work starts.

Every time rain falls, the affected residents said the problem worsens.

"It would take hundreds of thousands of dollars to save the house. I do not have that amount of money. We are waiting at their (officials’) mercy, " Mohamed said. "Our hands are in the lion’s mouth. My father is 84, and he said he is not relocating."

An official from the ministry promised to comment on the issue. Up to 5 pm, the information was not forthcoming.