Stakeholders meet, mull solutions to trucking lumber
An overweight lumber truck that lost control on the Amelia’s Ward access highway last week and almost reversed downhill
An overweight lumber truck that lost control on the Amelia’s Ward access highway last week and almost reversed downhill

– recommend logs be transported by river, not road

A HIGH-level multi-stakeholder meeting was held in Linden on Tuesday to discuss the indiscriminate movement of lumber trucks which have been the cause of numerous accidents on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway over the years.
Only recently there was a fatal accident involving a lumber truck on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Present at the meeting were: Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources Simona Broomes; Minister within the Ministries of Communities Valerie Patterson-Yearwood; Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira; Regional Chairman Renis Morian; and representatives of the E’ Division, Municipal and Regional Councillors, representatives from the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) and other officials.
Minister Broomes urged that the discussion be a solution-based one, since the issue is of paramount concern, while Figueira said:

“There is no highway in this country that would have experienced the loss of so many lives throughout Guyana like the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.”

He urged stakeholders to utilise the forum as a way forward, since the situation at hand needs to be dealt with expeditiously, as the trucks pose an imminent danger to road users.
Several concerns were highlighted surrounding the trucks traversing the highway at nights and even during the day, such as the speed at which the vehicles sometimes travel while transporting logs.

Another concern is that the trucks are often overloaded, fetching tonnes of logs that are not securely strapped down. And in the event of a break-down at nights, many are not only poorly illuminated, but are oftimes parked around a turn on the highway, which poses great danger, resulting in fatalities.
Regional Chairman Morian dwelt more on the destruction of community by-roads, since Linden is the gateway to many of the country’s mining areas.

Stakeholders, including government ministers, at Tuesday’s meeting in Linden

A BURDEN ON THE COMMUNITY
He said that with many of the roads running through farming communities, the farmers are saddled with the expense of repairing them while the truckers get off scotch free.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Regional Councillor Charles Sampson, who said the reason Region Ten’s roads are always in need of repairs is because of the lumber trucks.
“Logging trucks have been destroying our roads for years; something has to be done to reduce the impact of those logging trucks,” he said.
“If we do roads today, tomorrow the logging trucks destroy our roads.”
Some stakeholders were adamant that the lumber trucks only use the roads between 06:00h and 18:00h. Commander of E’ Division Anthony Vanderhyden said that this is a regulation that has long been in place, and that lumber trucks are only permitted to use the roadways by day.

Minister Yearwood argued, however, that the regulation at reference is not being enforced, and that this is where the problem lies.
“The problem we have is not putting regulations and laws and policies; is the enforcement,” she said, adding:
“We seem to be more reactive rather than proactive. When something happens, everybody in gear; then there is a lull after things return to normal. until something happen again.”
She also revealed that logs are now being transported by container trucks, and that this is what is helping to destroy the roads even faster.
The officials tried to establish which agency is directly responsible for enforcement, and while fingers were pointed at the GFC, Deputy Commission of Forest, Gavin Agard said that such a role is not under the purview of his agency.

NOT UNDER GFC
Said he: “The movement of logging trucks are not under our purview; we can only alert the traffic regulators. GFC encourages all stakeholders to be complaint and cooperative, especially those travelling the Soesdyke-Linden Highway…
“Forestry does not have the mandate to tell loggers to stop travelling.”
This was corroborated by Minister Broomes, who also rose to the Commission’s defence. “In terms of transporting the logs with the trucks and all of that, it has nothing to do with Forestry,” she said.
“Forestry doesn’t have a department of traffic; they don’t deal with vehicles and all of that. They deal with the trees and the forest, so I wanna put that out there. Natural Resources is not responsible for no road.”
The GFC has been long calling upon stakeholders in the forestry sector to fully comply with traffic regulations, explaining that non-compliance will leave the Commission no choice but to refer them to Law Enforcement. This has been communicated to them via various correspondences and notices at GFC outposts.
Compliance includes the use of illuminators, not overloading, not speeding, and not driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Linden Traffic Inspector Shawn Massey spoke of the difficulty the police have in putting measures in place to deal with some of the concerns being raised.
A case in point is the Highway’s speed limit of 100 km per hour, which applies to all classes of vehicles. But for a heavy-duty truck driver, driving at this limit is too fast for transporting logs, and therein lies the dilemma. “Even if they drive at 60, is a very fast rate of speed,” Massey said. “The law doesn’t specify what class of vehicle; it just say 100 km. We cannot stop a lorry driving at 100 km, because he is committing no offence,” he added.
He also made it known that no law stipulates that trucks can only traverse the Highway during the day-time, and called on the GFC to only process trucks between certain hours to prohibit them from driving at nights.
With forestry being a 24-hour agency, Agard explained that if processing were to be confined within a stipulated timeframe, then there will be a huge buildup of trucks in Linden. “Where will they park?” he asked. He believes, however, that given the good relationship between the GPF and the GFC, something can be worked out, and that further fruitful engagements can allow for better cooperation in tackling the issue.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Several recommendations and solutions were raised at the meeting. One of the main ones was the return of lumber being transported down the Demerara River. Prior to the construction of the Soesdyke-Linden Highway in the mid-60s, the logs were sailed down the river and as a result of this, several sawmills were operating along the river. There are still wharves, one of which is at Dallawalla, that can be operated if the regulation is enforced. This recommendation was made by both Ministers Yearwood and Broomes.
In addition, it was also recommended that the Linmine Secretariat get integrally involved in the process, since the concern was raised of the trucks traversing the Wismar-Mackenzie bridge during peak hours in the mornings and afternoons, which is a huge impediment to the smooth flow of traffic.
It was recommended that a cleared plot of land in West Watooka be used for the trucks to park between 07:00 and 09:00h, until the traffic is free.
Councillor Sampson noted that the weight of the trucks is having a negative effect on bridge which connects Linden to seven other regions. Recommendations were also made for the Linden bypass and back roads to be repaired so that trucks can utilise them and contribute to maintaining them rather than destroying outlying roads and highways.
MP Figueira also recommended that another meeting be held with the loggers and the various logging associations, as well as the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, which has responsibility for the Soesdyke-Linden Highway and main thoroughfares in Linden.
It was highlighted that the loggers play an integral role in the community’s moving forward since they have families to feed as well. Agard revealed that the truck drivers prefer to drive at night, since the heat of the sun tends to destroy tyres faster.
They also have a stipulated time to reach to the sawmills during the day before they can be paid for the lumber, thus they travel at nights.
It was also highlighted that it would be more expensive for the loggers to transport the logs via river as opposed to road. Regional Chairman Morian is expected to convene a meeting with them soon.

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