SECRETARY to the Cabinet, Dr Roger Luncheon stressed recently that the mechanism is in place for the maintenance of the now controversial Kwakwani, Ituni and Linden road corridors.

He was speaking in the context of recent protest actions by residents at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President, in Georgetown. “Resources, equipment are there to maintain these corridors.”

According to Luncheon, Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn has been trying to explain that there have been unusual weather patterns of late. For instance, there has been a considerable amount of rainfall during August, a time of the year when this is not usually seen.
Luncheon said this has had an impact on the roads and their usage by those who operate within the natural resources sector has had a further negative impact.
“But maintenance is an ever present and continuous feature of the conduct of the ministry and the region itself. And when they are public roads, this is exclusively the responsibility of the ministry and they assign resources and teams to provide maintenance.
“So one should not be left with the impression that the road is fixed but left until it deteriorates and then it is fixed again. This is not the principle that underpins maintenance of public roads. Maintenance is continuous,” Luncheon emphasised.
Meanwhile, Luncheon said school dormitories and health facilities have been “criminally” interrupted, along with timely access to goods and services following the recent resort to road blockages.
Worse yet, the blockage interrupted transportation links and produced wide-ranging effects in many sectors of the economy; sectors that depended on road transportation for performance.
Cabinet has noted that the “callous” disruption of traffic has contravened the law. Furthermore, the failure of the Opposition to condemn those actions has essentially emboldened the protesters, Luncheon noted.
Subsequently, the protesters defy law enforcement officials and threaten to escalate their protests. “At best, the suffering of those affected begs the question, “Who benefits from these road blockages?”
Meanwhile, police have so far arrested ten men and four women who were involved in blocking the roadway. They have all been charged and placed before the court.
The Ministry of Public Works announced on Monday that it was poised to conduct urgent repairs on sections of the Linden-Kwakwani Road in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/ Upper Berbice).
The damaged state of the roadway from Linden to Kwakwani has been a source of controversy over the past few weeks, with some residents resorting to blocking the route with logs as a form of protest.
Roadblocks were reported over the last weekend with only emergency vehicles, such as ambulances being allowed to pass. As a result of the protest, the Ministry of Education had to charter a plane over the weekend to send food to the Kwakwani Dormitory.