THE contentious Barabina Road in the Mabaruma Sub-Region is expected to undergo an assessment, which may see a concrete bridge near a waterway in the vicinity being replaced by a wooden structure.At the moment, the rains are pouring in various parts of the hinterland and the Barabina Road, on which millions of dollars were expended over the past six years, has not been spared.

Water has completely covered sections of the road, including the two ends of the stretch of road at the centre of the problem.

Reports are that engineers are assessing the roadway and a team from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure is expected to travel to the region to carry out further assessment of the roadway, as well as the bridge at the centre of the issue.

The flooded roadway has affected movement by residents to and from the hill-top community over the years and recently they have resorted to utilising a wooden boat to transport good across the flooded roadway.

Remedial works to the roadway were undertaken in April this year; however, such works proved counterproductive as the roadway was soon flooded by waters from the nearby Barabina Creek.

Over the weekend, residents told this publication that the genesis of the problem lies with the construction of a concrete bridge near the entrance to the business community of Kumaka.

That bridge, they said, was a wooden structure which enabled water from the Barabina Creek to flow freely into the waterways connecting to the Aruka River.
However, several years ago, the authorities in the region replaced the wooden structure with the concrete bridge, which was built with no conduit for water to flow freely beneath.

Overtime, the backing-up of the water from the Barabina Creek resulted in a section of the roadway, which is the only path connecting the community with the rest of the Mabaruma, being flooded.
Earlier this year, when this publication visited the region during the dry weather, residents were utilising wooden planks which were built on the edges of the inundated road to travel into and from Barabina Hill. Cars and buses would take residents halfway into the community and persons were required to walk the remainder of the journey.

In April, two revetments were constructed alongside the edges of the roadway under a contract that was cancelled previously.

Such works are being done to raise the level of the roadway but the inflow of water from the creek proved too much.

In the past, millions were expended on the roadway which provides a critical link between Barabina Hill and other communities in the area, including the administrative capital at Mabaruma.

The affected section lies at the bottom of the hilly community.

Responsibility for the roadway was handed over to the then Ministry of Public Works in 2012 and a contract to the tune of $21M was awarded to construction company, Joshi Construction to rebuild the roadway in January 2013.

Execution of the works fell behind schedule and the following year the contractor reportedly ran out of money to complete the project, which was approximately 70 per cent completed at the time.

It was indicated then that the company had spent some $15M on the project. The contractor was subsequently fired and the roadway was left in its flooded state until the regional administration commenced works recently.