jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt
A major landslip is not only the largest of over a dozen along the Southern Main Road but one of several issues for residents of Chatham and environs. Erosion along both sides of the roadway at the 96-kilometre mark is also a serious cause for concern.
Staging a protest to highlight their distress yesterday, many described the situation as a ticking time bomb. The major fear right now for the residents is that they may soon be disconnected from the rest of the country if weather conditions worsen.
Taxi driver Arshad Ali said the landslip has been deteriorating at an alarming rate.
“We don’t know if we could make it, if our vehicles could go down in there, you can see the cracks and it’s not one side, it’s both sides of the road collapsing,” Ali said.
Granville resident Sunil Sookram said numerous calls for the relevant ministers to pay urgent attention to the collapsing roadway have fallen on deaf ears.
“The Prime Minister is a geologist, the Minister of Finance is an engineer and they take the two sense together and they give Rohan Sinanan it, which is nonsense. They not doing nothing for nobody in Trinidad, watch the condition of the road,” Sookram said.
The landslide has impacted the integrity of the single-lane roadway to the point where heavy vehicles no longer risk passing. As a result, thousands of residents beyond Chatham are without access to certain essential items.
Fish vendor Kendel Moodie said members of the fisherfolk community were among the hardest affected, as getting gasoline is now a challenge.
“Look at the distress they putting us through right now. We have to leave Cedros and go Point (Fortin) and even Erin, La Brea all about to full gas to try and facilitate the fishermen because they outside fishing and we had get fuel for them. It’s a costly thing because we have to full diesel in our van at the same time...then look at the road conditions.”
Cedros councillor Shankar Teelucksingh said while several attempts have been made to fix the now worsening landslide, nothing has worked. He said it was only a matter of time before the residents’ fears are realised.
“Serious questions we asking from the Minister of National Security, the Minister of Public Utilities and the Minister of Works, let them come and give residents the assurance that it is safe to traverse so when something goes wrong or a fatality should happen, God forbid, that we know the course of action to be taken against them.”
Point Fortin MP Kennedy Richards Jr explained that the necessary works on alternative routes in and out of the area will take place to ensure residents aren’t cut off.
He added that weather conditions and other variables delayed works but the contractor tasked with addressing the roadway at the site in Chatham is set to resume works.
“The latest development that I have is that WASA has completed its engineering design and assessment and they are now about to resume in terms of working with the contractor to move the line,” Richards said.
Richards noted that a number of landslips have been identified and works will commence based on the level of threat posed.
