THE Ministry of Public Infrastructure said it is working alongside the Ministry of Natural Resources to assess the damage to the Aishalton main access road.

Heavy and persistent rainfall has resulted in a section of the main access road in Aishalton being washed away; cutting off vehicular traffic to the key Deep-South Rupununi village.
“Residents of Aishalton are asked to remain patient as the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Ministry of Natural Resources work assiduously to assess and evaluate the damage caused by the flash flood in the area,” the Public Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said the ministries’ regional engineers are on the ground, and are currently in consultations with the Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) Regional Executive Officer (REO), Carl Parker, on the way forward for a timely resolution.

“The Ministry of Public Infrastructure along with the Ministry of Natural Resources understand the importance of this access road to the livelihood of the residents in and around Aishalton and jointly, the ministries will ensure that the road becomes passable in a short while,” the Public Infrastructure Ministry said.

According to the ministry, it deeply regrets any inconveniences caused by this unforeseen event. Toshao of Aishalton, Michael Thomas, on Monday, told the Guyana Chronicle that the rains have been pouring in the area over the past several weeks, rendering parts of it flooded. He said the flooding was initially severe, as much as to cause some degree of damage to the road, but things worsened last week.

Thomas said it got so bad that a culvert buckled under the pressure of the water, and the road was consequently washed away. The area is still inundated, the village leader said, and the situation with the road has been compounded by the weight of trucks which pass through Aishalton on their way to the mining areas in the ‘Deep-South’.

It was explained that while there are hundreds of culverts along the roadway between Aishalton and Lethem, the area that has been washed away lies along a long stretch which is surrounded by swamp water.

There is, however, an alternative route which some villagers have been using to get to and from Aishalton, and that roadway connects the village with Awaranauwau. The one problem, however, Thomas said, is that going that route entails some 40 miles of travel, which means an additional four to five hours compared to what usually obtains along the original route.

Heavy and persistent rainfall has been the cause of flooding in many hinterland areas in recent weeks. Recently, flash floods in Mahdia forced residents living in low-lying areas to relocate as many counted their losses. The town council is working to relocate as many as 14 families to higher ground. Last week, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) had stated that it was monitoring the situation at both Mahdia and Aishalton.