– in light of road repairs

Kwakwani bus and car operators have fulfilled their promise to reduce the fare from $3, 000 to $2,500 when the road undergoes major repairs and is in a better condition.
The buses are now making fewer trips to the repair shop, their vehicles are consuming less gas and their tires are enduring the smoothness of the road.

Regional Vice Chairman Elroy Adolph told the Guyana Chronicle he is happy that the drivers kept their word and dropped the fare since commuters were under too much pressure to pay the $3, 000.

He also lauded the Ministry of Natural Resources for looking into the plight of the people and allocating substantial funds needed to do major repairs on the road.

“The trail is very smooth right now and the drivers have kept their word and so residents now have an ease of $500 and I am very happy for that,” Adolph said.

Commuters have related that the time taken from Linden to Kwakwani is now between 1 ½ to 2 hours, oppose to four and five hours when the road was in a deplorable state.
“The road is very smooth right now, if you leave Linden by eight, before ten you are in Kwakwani, I just hope that the road last,” One Kwakwani-based teacher said.

The Government approved more than $650M from Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s (GGMC) coffers to facilitate the road projects which are critical to miners and forest operators in the gold, diamond and timber industries.

The multimillion-dollar projects are being executed by the Natural Resources Ministry with funding from GGMC and technical assistance from the Public Infrastructure Ministry. The Linden to Kwakwani Road has been identified as one of these. In Region 10, the Rockstone – Mabura Road is also being repaired.

The repair works commenced at the end of the rainy season, so there were no hiccups in the contractors delivery and drivers and residents are optimistic that this time, the road will hold up, as oppose to times past, when it returned to its deplorable state within months. The repair works include ditching, excavating, repairs of soft spots and filling with laterite
Regional officials are urging residents to monitor the road works being executed by the contractors to ensure it is in keeping with the scope of works since such projects are community projects and benefit everyone.

“It is everyone’s business… so everyone have to make sure it is to the standard deserving,” Adolph said.

The maintenance of the Rockstone-Mabura Road costs a total of $140.4M and was awarded to MMC Inc.