THE Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has issued instructions banning the construction of a road from Parabara in the Deep South Rupununi in Region 9 (Upper Essequibo/Upper Takatu) to the New River Triangle.

The road was reportedly being constructed by itinerant Brazilian miners associated with local miners, with the apparent intention of allowing easy access from Boa Vista Brazil, to the Deep South and West Rupununi.
The miners were among those reportedly forced north out of Yanomami tribal lands in Brazil over the past decade.
The ministry disclosed that it had, by way of a letter, informed the Toshao of Masakinari, Paul Chekema, that it had not granted permission or awarded any licences for mining operations in the area.
As such, there should be no road construction taking place in the area as an aspect of mining operations.
Masakinari is the home of the Wai Wais in the deep south, literally the bottom of the map, an area also known as Gunn’s Strip.
A  Bartica miner responsible for the road, it was said, had obtained the consent of the leader of the community for its construction.
The ministry sated that from their investigations, machinery had been assembled for road construction but construction had not yet begun.
Villagers of Parabara in the Deep South Rupununi had been  recently informed that a road connecting the border town of Lumidpau to the Kuyuwini River to the south-east would pass through their village.
The plan was that a mechanized pontoon would then ferry vehicles across the Kuyuwini and the road would continue to the Essequibo River.
Sources said that the road would have bypassed Immigration and Customs located in Lethem and would have provided more direct access to and from Boa Vista, Brazil.

There had been objections about the  road, becoming more vocal in recent weeks since it would also have crossed the Kuyuwini River and led towards the Upper Essequibo and would have been  located in one of Guyana’s most pristine and biodiversity rich areas in the Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo region.
In a press release earlier this week, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) expressed appreciation that the ministry had written the respective indigenous communities that no mining–related construction must take place within Parabara and that the road had been banned.

(By Clifford Stanley)