– massive tree-planting exercise proposed

CITING safety as the key issue at hand, residents of the town of Mabaruma have thrown their support behind the cutting down of the town’s historic rubber trees to facilitate expansion of the roadway at the town.

This year there were several debates at Mabaruma regarding the future of the trees after several persons, including motorists, complained about the danger the trees pose to their safety and dozens of residents have signed onto a petition which they hope to submit to the authorities regarding the future of the trees.

Several days ago, a meeting was held at the town and an engineer of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure made a presentation on plans by the authorities to expand the roadway. Reports are that in its current state, two-way traffic cannot be accommodated on the roadway.

The presence of the trees, which line the roadway from the Broomes Hill to the Mabaruma Township, was debated at the recent meeting.

The trees are located along a section of the roadway called ‘Philbert Pierre Avenue’; the section of the roadway was named after Pierre who planted the trees. The trees, residents noted, are close to a 100 years old.

At the meeting held recently, the MoPI engineer proposed the cutting down of the trees on one side of the roadway and construction of the roadway on each side of the remaining row of trees, but residents disagreed, including Pierre’s offspring, Vibert Pierre, a former regional chairman of Region One.

In the minutes of the meeting, which was cited by this newspaper, residents made several suggestions. While they noted the historic nature of the trees, the residents proposed the cutting down of all the trees and the replanting of rubber trees on each side of the roadway. A massive tree-planting exercise was proposed.

It was noted, too, by residents of the town that there is no signage along the Philbert Pierre Avenue. As such, they proposed the construction of arches with Pierre’s name at each end of the avenue.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of vehicles traversing the roadway at the town and residents also propose the construction of speed humps to deter errant motorists.

At the moment, the residents of the town are preparing to submit the petition to the authorities as the expansion of the roadway beckons.