Chairman of the Westvale/Glencoe Park Residents Association Gerard Pinard says they are appealing to the relevant authorities to fix the retaining wall alongside the La Horquette Valley River. He estimates it would cost about $300,000.
The wall and one of Pinard's two bamboo patches came tumbling down during torrential rains on August 11. Some residents lost vehicles and possessions during the deluge. Citizens were marooned and traffic came to a grinding halt in communities like Glencoe, Maraval, Woodbrook and Diego Martin.
Interviewed on Thursday, Pinard said, "They helped when the disaster struck. But we are hoping authorities would intervene so we won't have a repeat of the disaster on August 11. We want them to speed up the work. I'm afraid my other bamboo patch is going to be in the river.
It prevents the soil from eroding. It acts as a wind break. The river is eroding my property and that of my neighbours. About $300,000 would rectify it. We are not asking for money. We are willing to work with the Government to get it done."
Armed with correspondence, Pinard said he had alerted the authorities about the river which was encroaching on residents' properties in June 2004. Pinard even spent about $13,000 to install rolls of wire link along the perimeter of his property which is hemmed in by the river.
He said, "They put gabion baskets (rocks inside of wire mesh). They put in some of the "storm drains" (a large canal that has increased capacity). It is used to empty into the river." He lauded the Government for repairing the road that had split at La Horquette and cleaning out silt-laden drains.
Chief among their concerns were the need for urgent works like repair/upgrading of the box drain along Thorne Drive, improved drainage of the slopes, clean-out of underground drains, cleaning of roads and culverts at Westvale Park and cutting of vegetation that has lost significant amounts of soil along La Horquette Valley river.
George: It is on our radar
Contacted last week, Public Utilities Minister Emmanuel George said they were awaiting the completion of the budget debate. George said, "Last Saturday, I spoke to people in Glencoe and La Horquette. The budget has to be done. We haven't gotten as much as we wanted. If I had my way, I would fix everybody. We will attempt to deal with the drains. We have not dropped the ball. It is on our radar. I hope people would be patient."
Minister of Local Government Suruj Rambachan, meanwhile, said there were several programmes planned for the new fiscal stream. "It's not something that can be done overnight. It's not the Government is oblivious. For those who witnessed the response, they said it was the fastest. We continue to work to bring back the place to normalcy. It is not just one feet of construction."
Efforts to contact ODPM?CEO Dr Stephen Ramroop proved futile. He was said to be in a meeting.
