Michelle Loubon

Matelot is a pic­turesque fish­ing vil­lage lo­cat­ed on this coun­try's north east coast. But the idyl­lic can­vas re­mains bro­ken by the pres­ence of bad roads and poor drainage. The in­ad­e­quate in­fra­struc­ture pos­es an ob­sta­cle course for its res­i­dents. Even lo­cal tourists com­plain bit­ter­ly about the poor roads.

Grande Riv­iere res­i­dent Franklyn Hold­er said it was re­fresh­ing to see Works and Trans­port Min­is­ter Jack Warn­er and MP Ru­pert Grif­fith tour­ing the com­mu­ni­ty to get a first hand ac­count of its road woes.

While Warn­er and his team de­scend­ed the flight of stairs that led to the seafront which was tres­pass­ing on a neigh­bour's prop­er­ty, Hold­er said Matelot des­per­ate­ly needs bet­ter roads.

He said: "The last time any work was done on the road from Matelot to To­co was about 35 years ago. About two years ago we saw some ma­chin­ery but no re­al work on the road." His friend from Monte Video Durville Sut­ton chimed in: "We need prop­er walls and prop­er drainage. Wa­ter does run in the road and mash up the al­ready bad road. Wa­ter is a force by it­self. We need prop­er drainage. They need to build a re­tain­ing wall."

Hold­er said while they were glad Warn­er had vis­it­ed, "Don't ex­pect him to fix the road in one day. He's not God. But we are glad he came to Matelot." Asked about Matelot's needs, an­oth­er res­i­dent Ann Marie Rudulpho said: "No wa­ter, no roads. "We have to put on boots when it rains to get home. The mud does be thick. We have no wa­ter truck. The chil­dren have to dress in the road. We have to walk with them to a point and then help them put on their socks and shoes."

Boat own­er/fish­er­man An­tho­ny Ram­la­gan said Matelot was a fish­ing vil­lage and des­per­ate­ly needs a new de­pot. "The cen­tre is over 20 years and is in a di­lap­i­dat­ed state." Shar­ing his sen­ti­ment were vil­lagers Pren­tice James, An­del Shears and Kyrel Richard­son.

"First time we see­ing min­is­ters com­ing to Matelot. That is a big change. If we had known be­fore we would have made some fish broth," said Ram­la­gan.

Al­though he didn't com­plain about the ter­ri­ble road which pass­es in front of his prop­er­ty, Telfer Fran­cois, 90, reg­is­tered his sup­port for Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar. As though he was still in elec­tion mode, he ham­mered a sign which read: "Kam­la for Prime Min­is­ter." (ML)