Repairs begin to Caratal Road, residents want more done

REMEDIAL work at Caratal Road near Caratal Sacred Heart RC School in Gasparillo on Friday saw the road becoming passable for cars but residents want more work to be done.

Residents said work began after 7 am and lasted about three hours. They say the materials used were “old roads,” meaning the surface layers of bad roads that are removed when repairs are done.

“They did not put boulders or anything. If the rain falls now, everything will wash away. For the most, that work would last a week. Since I was a little boy, the road has always been bad,” Ray Mitchell told Newsday on Friday afternoon.

He is also a former pupil of the area’s primary school.

“People have to wait on Gasparillo junction for hours to get home because no taxi drivers want to work here. We used to have a community centre. They broke it down, saying they were going to build a new one, and we are still waiting,” Mitchell said.

Residents complained that rapid land movements and neglect by consecutive governments have contributed to the roads’ deterioration.

Owner of the Body Shop Gym and Fitness Centre, Hugh Findley, 71, said recurring water pipeline leaks have also added to the problem. Apart from structural damage to his home and business, the gym instructor said his business had been severely affected.

Caratal Road falls under the purview of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, and chairman Henry Awong has said that the corporation is cash-strapped. For that reason, it cannot bring proper relief to burgesses.

The corporation also has sought help from the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government. On Tuesday, the first day of the new school term, parents and students staged a placard protest to highlight the road’s condition and to call on the authorities to fix it.

Students have been staying away from classes up to Friday.

The Education Ministry has proposed online classes for students, but parents and teachers said they prefer in-person classes.