OVER the weekend residents of Catherineville, Calcutta, Recess and Burma in Mahaicony have expressed intense anger and disgust at the deplorable state of the Burma Access Road, which they claim has been in an ‘utterly run down state’ for over several years.

On a recent visit to the area, it was observed that the road, which gives all Guyana access to the SAJ Rice Group Inc., located at Burma, is in a terrible condition, with large pot holes throughout the entire five-mile stretch, making the journey of drivers and other commuters almost unbearable.
Persons using this road are forced to contend with the never-ending tons of sand that blow into the air as vehicles ply the treacherous route.
Residents of the above mentioned villages in several interviews all contended that the road has never been properly repaired, even though several attempts have been made by various persons contracted to bring it to perfection.
Villagers explained that, from time to time, the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) responsible for the area would send contractors to repair the road, but at no time was the job done properly.
Persons indicated that instead of using the expected boiled tar, asphalt and other related items used for such jobs, the contractors only clean out the potholes, put in water and fill it with sand and stones. The heavy duty trucks transporting rice, paddy and other products to the rice complex at Burma soon uproot the stuff placed in the potholes, raising tons of sand into the atmosphere in the process.
Truck drivers using this route related that contractors would only fill the large manholes and would ignore the smaller ones, which are soon after enlarged by the heavy vehicular traffic.
Villagers noted that several approaches to the NDC always results in them being promised that the road would be repaired properly. Some villagers related stories of being told by NDC officials that the amount of monies budgeted to repair the road properly was not enough, thus resulting in the attempted ‘haphazard repairs’.
Several months ago, residents, and truck drivers had blocked the road in protest during the rainy seasons, after to heavy laden trucks were stuck for prolonged periods in the large potholes. Public Works officials from the city had intervened during this protest, but the road has even gotten worse since then, according to residents.
Vehicular traffic now takes about five times the period that would have taken along a normal road to get to Burma, and drivers and passengers are complaining bitterly. Food vendors operating outside the Burma Rice Milling Complex and the National Rice Research Institute (NARI) complained bitterly about the amount of suffocating dust they have to endure all day as drivers pass to and fro on their many errands.
Residents noted that during the rainy seasons it is almost impossible to drive on the road, while many drivers related that they have endured severe damage to their vehicles because of the state of the road.
Two very experienced individuals explained that the road continues to deteriorate rapidly because contractors are not using tar and asphalt as expected, and are also using about 75% sand and 25% ‘crush and run’ material, a combination which they claim would never hold the road together for long periods.
Some persons indicated that when a section of the road become badly damaged, contractors would, in many cases, use machines to level the same areas, which soon become unacceptable in little time.
Residents are calling on the responsible bodies to repair the road properly, since it gives all Guyana access to the SAJ Rice entity, which is an important facility to rice farmers countrywide. Rice farmers from Berbice, Burma, Mahaicony and Mahaica depend on the road as a means of marketing their produce.
Several attempts over the weekend to contact officials from the NDC Committee proved futile.