PLEASE permit the use of your column to enquire on a critically important situation for the residents of the Pattensen (south) community, commonly called “B Field, Sophia”.

I became elated at the prospect of having the deplorable state of our main access road rectified, when, in April 2012 budget debates on government expenditure estimates, I noted that $33M under the urban roads programme had been allocated for the road repairs.

For the majority of residents, those road works were long overdue, even though there was some “patching” done the previous year. This road, I must mention, was completed in 2006 when the entire community benefited from a road construction project; but, to our dismay, within one year of completion of the project, over 30% of all the surfaces were compromised, and thus needed repairs. This deterioration continues until this present day.

Mr. Editor, this main road and the other carriageways within the community serve over 5,000 residents, who own approximately over 150 personal vehicles. The public transportation fleet of mini buses number over 28, plus the Section B Pattensen main road is strategically the only carriageway within the entire Sophia catchment area that is accessible by vehicular traffic (via three bridges which the community built and maintains) that comes from the Lamaha Park and other sister communities in the southern section of Georgetown; and it equally serves to ease the traffic on the eastern corridor of the coast for commuters coming from higher up the east coast and heading to the East Bank.

I would have thought that such a critically useful roadway, which has sunk into the deplorable state it’s in today, would have generated a more robust effort to get the job done; but, alas, this is not so.

During the month of June, I noticed the Honourable Minister of Public Works negotiating his vehicle, one Saturday afternoon, through the same main road, and that exercise took this, meaning that he was putting some personal effort into bringing this road project into fruition. However, to date, there has still been absolute silence on the works to be done.

To the credit of some youths within the community, they can be seen daily seeking out all types of builders’ waste and other materials to put into the gaping craters that the road has been reduced to, and I must say thanks to the minibus drivers who continue to hazard their vehicles and safety to provide our citizens with public transportation, which is very imperative in a working class neighbourhood such as ours.

As a servant and resident of this community, I would like to implore the responsible minister and his technical and works teams to please find a way to get the road done, especially now that we are into a somewhat dry period at this time. I think the people of our community deserve this, and of course many of the persons from our sister communities too. It’s been seven months too long.