Chaguanas, Williamsville residents protest over bad roads

Frustrated by the deplorable state of roads in their communities, residents of Morne Roche Road in Williamsville, and Bejucal Road in Cunupia, held two separate fiery protests on Monday.

From 5.30 am, Morne Roche residents burned debris which brought traffic to a standstill.

Bar owner Denny Harnarine told Newsday residents have been pleading for years with the Ministry of Works and Transport to fix the road.

“Fours year ago they paved part of the road and stopped…they never bothered to pave the rest of the stretch. It’s real difficult because nearly every day we does have to see people tyre bursting and stuff.”

Unconvinced the ministry will do roadworks, Harnarine said residents have even contemplated pooling their resources to fix the road themselves.

Contacted for comment, Tabaquite MP Anita Hayes told Newsday she supported the protest as the residents are “understandably frustrated.”

Hayes also recalled, “There was also a protest in that same area at the end of last year. That protest came after numerous letters and calls to the ministry (of Works and Transport) from my office as well as the times I raised the issue in Parliament.

“After our protest last year, the ministry officials came and measured, but we’ve been faced by months of inaction again.”

Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally joined Bejucal Road residents as they took to the streets with placards and burned tyres in their protest which started around 6 am.

Apart from bad roads, residents also highlighted the area’s poor drainage, inefficient water supply, leaking underground pipelines and flooding.

Rambally told Newsday he wrote letters to various agencies in September 2020, December 2020 and January seeking a collaborative effort to address the residents’ concern but the effort was futile.

Rambally explained, “The roads are in such a bad condition that you could start off coming off at the Uriah Butler Highway side driving, but by the time you exit on the Warren Road side you end up walking because your car gets lost inside there.

“The level of the road is so bad that the right hand side of the road is at one very low level, so it’s a steep drop to that side from the next side of the road.”

With several businesses along the road, Rambally claims one company went as far as writing over 25 letters hoping to get the area’s issues resolved.