Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Heights of Aripo residents joined together yesterday morning to protest deteriorating roads in the rural community in east Trinidad.
The residents did not burn tyres or block the already crumbling roads, but instead came out to give members of the media a tour of the roads they are forced to manoeuvre on a daily basis on their journey to and from home.
In an interview with Guardian Media, PRO of the community’s village council, Cleveland Douglas, explained that residents were concerned that the community would be cut off if the road got worse with the start of the rainy season.
“We need help right now because it is critical and soon it will become impassable,” Douglas said.
He explained that not only the over 1,000 residents would be affected but the hundreds of persons who visit the community frequently for hikes, river limes and other recreational activities.
He said as a result of the road conditions, the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) has reduced its services to the community and ambulances refuse to respond to emergency calls there.
“Taxis don’t want to come up here because they will have to keep spending on their suspension,” he said.
Douglas claimed that the Rural Development Company of T&T was supposed to do rehabilitative work on the road and a major 12-tonne bridge in the community but instead only focused on the entrance of the community, which he described as “not critical.”
“It come like Aripo is deserted apart from the little work in the front,” he said.
Douglas was careful to note that the residents did not blame Arima MP Pennelope Beckles-Robinson or the area’s local government councillor, who they admitted had written numerous letters to the Ministry of Works and Transport seeking assistance for them.
Douglas noted that after the nation and the village were shaken by the news of 23-year-old Judiciary employee Andrea Bharatt being dumped there after being abducted in early 2020, villagers formed a checkpoint to monitor vehicles entering and leaving the community.
He claimed that since then, there has been a major decrease in criminals utilising the community for their nefarious activities.
“Aripo is a place with real love. We are always coming together to do things,” Douglas said.
Another resident, Michael Goldberg, who has been operating a farm in the community for over 25 years, said the road was the worst he had ever seen.
“It is not just me, it is everybody and people are starting to get fed-up,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg explained that the truck he uses to transport his cocoa and christophene was damaged because of the roads.
“I can’t get my goods out,” he said.
Goldberg claimed he wrote to several ministries, the Arima Borough Corporation and even Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for assistance but to no avail.
“You name the agency and I have been to it, but they send you around in circles,” Goldberg said.
