By Svetlana Marshall
Approximately 40 students from the villages of Isseneru, Kangaruma and Tassarene in Middle Mazaruni have been unable to attend school in Bartica, Region Seven because a partially submerged dredge is blocking the main channel. This is according to the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Regional Chairman Gordon Bradford. Bradford on Wednesday told Guyana Chronicle that it is the responsibility of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) to transport the students from their respective villages to Bartica at the commencement of the school term, but with dredge blocking the main channel, the region is unable to do so. These children attend the Bartica Secondary and Three Miles Secondary Schools.
“It is our responsibility to bring them out at the start of the school term to Bartica and take them back at the end of the term but we have not been able to bring them out because the jet boats are no longer working,” Bradford explained.
Currently, he said the RDC is exploring other avenues including transporting the students by air but said that too is very expensive.
“This week I will be trying the Ministry of Public Infrastructure on the matter with the hope of finding a solution to the problem. I have already spoken to the Junior Minister Annette Ferguson, so it a matter of writing them,” he noted.
If the children are to travel by air, Bradford explained that they would have to travel to the Olive Creek airstrip located at the junction of the Kurupung and Mazaruni Rivers where a chartered plane will fly them to Bartica. That airstrip is controlled by the Correia Mining Company.
When all is said and done, Bradford said “we have to get those children out for school.” He said the current issue also gives rise to another important matter – the rehabilitation of the Issano Road which is a vital link to the Middle Mazaruni.
“We must rehabilitate the road, while the aircraft and jet boats can take only a certain amount, the road can facilitate so much more travel,” he posited. The road he said though established as not been maintained and as such is in an impassable state.
The Regional Chairman is working to have the road included in the 2017 budget.
Meanwhile, speaking on the issue of the sunken dragga, Minister of Public infrastructure David Patterson said the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and the Natural Resources Ministry along with the owner of the dredge – Crown Mining are trying to removed it within a month.
“Hopefully we can get it moved within the month,” he told this newspaper.
He said getting to the area with equipment on a barge is difficult because the terrain is tough, owing to low water levels and a narrow channel.
The idea is to get the drag re-floated and to move it out of the area.
“I know it has been there for a while now, but we are trying to move it quickly,” he added.
Since July the partially submerged vessel was left hanging by its owners several weeks ago near the Piereemap Falls, creating worry for boat operators , mainly “jet boats “ which traverse the waterway ferrying passengers and cargo on a daily basis.