Fed up over the dilapidated condition of Mohess Road in Penal, scores of residents armed with placards staged a protest yesterday morning. Chanting "We want our road fix...We want Moonilal right now," the residents claimed that their cries for a proper road had fallen on deaf ears by past and present governments. Resident Sam Rampaul said: "It is impassable right now.
"The major problem here is a river that runs parallel to Mohess Road and the river is eroding the road in some places...Half the road has already gone into the river," he said. He said taxis had since stopped working in the area. "It hard to get out on the SS Erin Road now," he said. "We have children going to school, they have to walk out to get to school."
Rampaul said an official at the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation told him the road would be repaired at the end of the year. As a consequence, he said, the official told him no money would be spent to patch the road. "They say the piling of the river schedule for the end of the year, but how they could do that in the rainy season," he said. He said attempts to reach their Member of Parliament, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, were unsuccessful.
Another resident, Allan Rampaul, said approximately 1,000 residents were affected. "We cannot wait until the end of the year," he said. Another resident, Nafisha Ramsahai, 28, said: "I born and grow up here and since I know myself the road bad, they only patching it... We need our road fixed!" Meanwhile, Moonilal has given the assurance that road repairs would begin immediately. Saying he empathised with the residents, Moonilal said he had openly said that that road was probably the worst in the Caribbean.
He said he had been in discussions with Works Minister Jack Warner. "I am happy to report that the ministry will undertake emergency repairs and rehabilitation," Moonilal said. "I think it should start today (Wednesday) with the provision of material and labour." In addition, he said, there was a long-term project estimated at $23 million that involved paving the river. Given the history of the problem, he said, he was of the view that the project should commence immediately, even if it were to be done in phases.