THE Ministry of Natural Resources will be collaborating with the Regional Democratic Council of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) and the Linden municipality in an effort to clamp down on the indiscriminate and illegal mining of the region’s resources.
These resources include sand, loam, laterite and stone. Illegal sandpits have been causing erosion in various communities in the town.

On Wednesday, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman told the Guyana Chronicle that he is cognisant of what is happening in Linden and the matter is of grave concern to his ministry.
He has since assigned junior Natural Resources Minister Simona Broomes to investigate the issue. She has since held one meeting thus far with the residents of Moblissa over the mining of both sand and loam in their community.

“We don’t expect that within a day, week or even a month, the problems of the last two decades will be reversed immediately, but certainly it is a matter of grave concern to us and we are doing something about it,” Trotman said.
He confessed that the situation has escalated to this point of worry, as a result of years of neglected supervision. In addition to causing erosion and wanton exploitation of the region’s resources that can garner an income, another area of concern is the damage sand trucks are causing to the roadways.

Currently, sections of the Soesdyke-Linden Highway are under threat. The surface of the road is being eroded by the weight of the trucks.
Regional Chairman Renis Morian has described a huge “break away” at the Moblissa Bridge as an awaiting catastrophe and posited during a recent visit that the very trucks can topple, especially at night.

Trotman said this situation also merits the attention of his ministry.
“Sand trucks are blamed for that and while I might say that is for the police, I take it that the Ministry of Natural Resources has responsibility; we want to make sure that if sand is being moved, we want to make sure that it is being done in a lawful way. We have to respect weight limits and wherever this sand is coming from the sandpit must be authorised.”

During previous statutory meetings at the RDC, the matter was raised by councillors who also cited the exploitation of gold and lumber from the region. Residents from aback Amelia’s Ward have been up in arms with regional officials over the illegal mining of sand by contractors, truck and tractor operators, which has expanded to a pit right behind their back doors.

Residents of Cholmondley Hill, Wismar, have also expressed concern over illegal mining of sand in their community since this too is causing erosion.
Minister of Communities with responsibility for Housing, Valarie Patterson-Yearwood, had revealed that while clearing land for the construction of housing units in Amelia’s Ward, a huge sand pit was discovered at the exact spot where the houses were to be built.
Alternative arrangements had to be made. One tractor driver explained to this publication that mining and selling sand has been his livelihood for years and he also has in his employ three young boys who look to the job to make an honest living.

If the sandpit operation is halted, not only will many breadwinners for their families be out of jobs, but construction costs in Linden will also go up. Minister Trotman never spoke of halting the operation, but of putting systems in place for it to be done in an orderly manner and legally.