Although elated with being provided with a new road, residents of Bamia Drive in Amelia’s Ward, Linden, who questioned its durability as well as the walkway and drainage infrastructure were assured by Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill, that the works are sound.

The road, one of many slated to be built and catered for in this year’s $136.1 billion road budget, was commissioned yesterday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the Minister, ministry engineers, regional officials, and residents of the village.

During the commissioning, residents were allowed the opportunity to share their views and concerns about the new road and one of them questioned both the minister and the engineer of the construction company about its durability and drainage components.

“With all these contracts, my question is to the engineer. When you engineer these contracts why not engineer for drainage, sidewalks and all of these things. I see the road stop one area, why not continue or complete the entire road?” the female resident asked.

Although the contractor of the company, Amad Chetram spoke, he did not answer her questions on behalf of his company’s engineer but instead Edghill, chose to do so.

The minister explained to the residents that drainage has always been an issue in Linden and in order to find a suitable solution for the road’s durability, the company had constructed it using concrete which he said will last longer than an asphaltic road.

“In this new wave we have responded based upon the views that were expressed while we were rolling out the first programme, [as] people were very concerned about the drainage and the durability of the roads. I’m sure everybody in Linden and in Amelia’s Ward in

particular will know that drainage is not a problem that developed in 2020, 2021 or 2022, Amelia’s Ward never had any real drainage network in terms of building adequate drainage and because of the layout and nature of the soil, when we have heavy rainfall and water flows we get `wash-aways’ and we had to find a solution. We are still pursuing that solution and we believe that one of the solutions that could help is moving the construction type from asphaltic concrete which will see layers of sand, loam, crusher run and then asphalt and moving into rigid pavement concrete which is what we see here today which is more likely to hold up to the weather conditions and the water flow even when we seek to establish and develop a drainage network”, the minister stated.

He noted that although the concrete roads are more costly in their initial stage of construction, the cost of maintenance is much cheaper compared to an asphaltic road. He added that they will continue to construct asphaltic roads but only for areas and environments that can allow for that type of road construction material.

Edghill assured the residents that the road which was done to a certain point will be fully completed soon, since it is only the first phase that was done so far. “Wherever the road stops, that is just phase one in terms of measurement and the dimensions allow for, we will have to come back with phase two.”

The minister took the opportunity to urge persons, especially drivers who will be using the road frequently to take their time and drive responsibly. “I want to make an appeal. These are community roads, people live in these areas, children will be playing in the yard, a ball gon jump over the fence… users got to be more careful and stop the speeding because we ain’t building roads to kill people, we building roads to develop communities, and we need responsible behaviour and responsible actions from the users of the roads.”