Works Ministry going after contractor accused of causing mudslide

THE contractor whose quarrying activities at Guaracara/Tabaquite allegedly caused a mudslide, almost cutting off access, has been identified.

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said the operations are being investigated.

He said the matter will be referred to the ministry’s legal department to recover the money expended to clear the road over the past month, and the damage done to its retaining wall.

Sinanan visited the site on Tuesday to come up with a solution to stop the movement of the land, bringing relief to those who have been inconvenienced as a result.

The quarrying has allegedly disrupted a water reservoir which has saturated the land to the point that the mud has been constantly falling on the roadway, narrowing the passage. The water is also undermining an old landslip and retaining wall opposite the mudslide.

Sinanan told reporters, significant resources have been expended to keep the road passable.

“At the ministry we have been spending money over the last month or so, constantly, just clearing the roadway because this material keeps coming down from the private land which was being quarried...

“We cannot continue like that.”

Sinanan could not quantify the cost on Tuesday, but said his information is that equipment and manpower were on the site on at least five occasions.

“We have to keep the road passable. We are going to look at a permanent solution and then see how we can recover that money from whoever was responsible for that mishap in the area.”

He defended his ministry not yet coming up with a solution, although the problem has been existing for some time.

He said the ministry did not have the authorisation to go on private property, but the local government agency had that authority to go in and issue stop notices.

“The ministry does not have the authority to discipline anybody. My information is that we have contacted the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), we have contacted the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Energy – in terms of mining, and the regional corporation.”

Referring to a claim by the chairman of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation Henry Awong that it could not get the Rural Development and Local Government Ministry to act, Sinanan said he did not want to get into the workings of that ministry.

“What we’re going in there to do now, is to see if there’s any way our legal team could find a way to bill the contractor to recover all the money we are spending.”

Remedial action and a permanent solution will also engage its attention.

“This is a major problem we have throughout the country where once you interfere with the contour of the land it will have effects in other areas. The road now is being threatened and once the road is threatened then the Government has to come in and spend of millions to prevent the threat and protect the road network.”