…gov’t rolls out multi-million dollar correction project

THE Ministry of Natural Resources (MoNR) has answered the call of residents residing in Wisroc Phase Two, Wismar, Linden, for urgent correction to be completed on their main access road that was virtually destroyed to erosion.

In fact, more than half the road-surface was eroded into an existing gully and with each rainfall, the entire area was being washed away. Homes in proximity to the location were also affected and at least two houses had visible cracks on their walls.
The erosion started during the dry season in April this year and resulted in several bush fires. One of the fires was so threatening that residents had to open a main pipeline in the now eroded area to quell the inferno. The gushing water from the pipe, initially caused the area to become eroded, but this worsened as the May/ June rains stepped in.

The Regional Democratic Council, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), commenced the project, but did not possess the capacity to continue; hence, it was adopted by the MoNR. Residents are expressing their appreciation for this, as their entire daily routine and in some cases, their livelihoods were affected. “We are extremely grateful that the government would have stepped in and answered our call, and to know that they didn’t come and do no ‘slam dash’ work, but as you can see is proper work they did here; we know for sure this would not happen back any time soon, because of the work they put out,” Lester Solomon said.

Constituency Eight Councillor Gary King also hailed the corrective work as one of high standard and said that he is satisfied with same and the timeline in which it was completed. King had also made representation with regional and government officials on behalf of the community for the work to be completed in a timely manner.

Regional Executive Officer Orrin Gordon, related that he is grateful that the MoNR, came on board to ensure the project came to fruition, since the residents were suffering tremendously because of same. He is also pleased with the engineering solution that was used to ensure that water-flow into the gully will be significantly decreased and the sediments would be trapped.

The engineers utilised concrete to rebuild the entire section of the road that was eroded. They reinstated the road-base and sub-base and then constructed a concrete roadside drain and soakaway outlet system to drain the storm water down into the gully. They also installed a series of culvert tubes to channel the water into the gully. Concrete boxes were also constructed as sedimentation chambers to allow the sediments to be trapped as the water flows down. These are expected to be cleaned intermittently.