SEVERAL frustrated West Ruimveldt residents have lamented the hardships they are enduring because of the deplorable state of several roads in the community.

During a visit to the area on Friday, the Guyana Chronicle spoke to a few of the affected residents. According to them, the large potholes and depressions are causing damage to their vehicles, and are hindering them from executing daily tasks.

“This road; it breaking up meh car every day when I got to pass and come through this road here. It is worse here when it floods,” Shawn Morris, a resident of Hibiscus Street said.

He noted that the terrible state of the road has seen him having to regularly fix scratches and dents on his vehicle.

Morris told this publication that while the Georgetown Mayor and City Council is aware of the situation in the community, to his knowledge, no attempt has been made recently to repair the deplorable roads.

Another resident, Rochell (only name given), said that some minor works were done in 2012. However, these were substandard, as the roads began to erode, and are now in a terrible state.

“They did it one time, but, apparently, it wasn’t done properly, because if you look around, you can see, evidently, that it is horrible. When it’s flooded, the children have to walk through the water to get to school, and taxis don’t want to come into the area, because it is damaging their cars and stuff like that,” the frustrated woman said.

She is calling on the City authorities to do an assessment of the area, and to quickly fix the roads, as the situation is hindering the children greatly during the rainy season.

“The proper officials need to come into the area, check it out, and see how people are living,” she said, adding: “We, too, need nice roads. Ah mean, we can’t get four-lane roads, but we need roads that cars can drive through, and our children can walk to go to school, especially during the rainy season.”

Another resident, who identified himself as Ryan, is of the belief that the heavy garbage disposal trucks that traverse the area are damaging the already narrow roads.

“The roads dem bad, and it does damage certain parts of the car and suh, and one of the things that I does observe is the garbage truck. I think the garbage truck they sending in the area it too big; they have smaller trucks that they can send,” the man said.

Ryan also told the Guyana Chronicle that during the rainy season, flooding contributes to the erosion of the road’s surface, which is why he has taken it upon himself to clean and clear the majority of the drains in the community during the rainy season. He believes that the cleaning and clearing will help the water to drain faster from the roads.

“I’m the one who maintains all of this at my own expense; when I don’t have the money to pay people to do it, I do it myself,” Ryan said, adding: “Sometimes some of my fellow villagers, who are police and soldiers, when they off-duty, I could count on them. They would come out and assist me.”

The Georgetown Mayor and City Council is responsible for fixing roads in the City.

The Guyana Chronicle contacted Trichria Richards, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) councillor responsible for East and West Ruimveldt, and she readily admitted that she is aware of the deplorable state the roads. She said that she has made several attempts to engage the relevant authorities about the situation, but due to the limited resources available to her, there is not much she can do to address the situation.

In the meantime, she said that measures to alleviate the effects of flooding are being discussed at the level of the City Council.