Tuesday, October 6 2009

Residents of Lodge Road, Claxton Bay say they live in a forgotten area with unpaved, winding roads and improper drainage which leads to flooding during rainfall.

They are lobbying the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC) for help to fix Lodge Road.

“If the CTTRC provides us with the material we will fix the road ourselves. We are talented and even if it is a ghetto, we are not into drugs and there are a lot of masons in the area,” said Lynette Keezer, 50, a resident of Lodge Road for 20 years.

She said Lodge Road is an unpaved mess with deep potholes and no drainage for water run-off.

When it rains, as many as 100 children are unable to walk on the road to go to school because it becomes too muddy.

“It is too slippery to walk out to the main road and when water gushes down the road their uniforms become soaked with dirty water,” she said.

She showed Newsday pieces of cloth which residents stuck into wire fences for children to clean their muddy shoes as they grope their way down Lodge Road to get transport for school.

Keezer appealed to the CTTRC to either fix the road and drains or provide material for residents to do the job themselves.

Anthony Stafford, 43, said his daughter, Danika, 15, gets up at 3 am to get ready for school because of the traffic congestion due to the poor road conditions.

He said most residents flock to a garage to hustle transport at the Claxton Bay main road.

“It is very hard for Lodge Road residents to get transport because taxis do not want to venture inside the road,” he said.

Cheryl Wildman, 46, also said a river of dirty water floods her yard when it rains and she has been marooned at her home.

In dry weather, the road becomes a dust bowl, residents also said.

Wildman feels betrayed by the ruling PNM representatives who only visited the area during elections, then left residents in the same conditions that existed before the party won the Pointe-a-Pierre seat.

“No vote for them, no vote the next time,” said Wildman, as she lay down in the roadway in disgust.

When contacted, CTTRC chairman Ranjit Ramnarine said Lodge Road is on a top ten priority list of roads that are in dire need of infrastructural works. However, the corporation does not have enough funds, he said.

“I sympathise with the people, the area is terrible and we will make representation, but we are not getting the money.

“A councillor might only be able to pave one or two roads with the money we are getting,” said Ramnarine.

Ramnarine said the CTTRC will continue to raise the residents’ concerns at regional coordination meetings of corporations, utilities and the Works Ministry. The ministry has since advised that Lodge Road is a secondary road and is not its responsibility. Secondary roads fall under regional corporations, the ministry said.