Ch­agua­nas May­or Gopaul Bood­han is call­ing for the es­tab­lish­ment of a roads au­thor­i­ty to re­pair and main­tain roads and bridges across the coun­try.

His call comes in the wake of protests by res­i­dents over an in­com­plete bridge at Marchin Road, Jern­ing­ham Junc­tion, Cunu­pia. Bood­han said a con­trac­tor stopped work on the bridge about four months ago be­cause funds were not be­ing re­leased for the project.

The may­or said re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for roads and bridges is shared be­tween the Min­istry of Works and re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tions, which mi­nor roads are han­dled by the re­gion­al bod­ies.

He is call­ing for a road au­thor­i­ty to be part of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Re­form so that all roads are placed un­der the con­trol of re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tions and fund­ing al­lo­cat­ed for up­grades.

That way, he said there would be enough funds for re­pairs and con­trac­tors would not have to aban­don projects.