A collapsed road and flooding in parts of Central Trinidad left dozens of residents unable to access their homes over the weekend.
Several weeks ago, a sinkhole appeared along Arena Road in Freeport. That roadway connects Freeport to Caparo and is used daily by hundreds of motorists.
Shortly after the sinkhole developed, employees of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC) began repairs.
They had almost completed the job last week when a leaking WASA pipeline caused about ten feet of the road to collapse, rendering it impassable.
On Saturday, flooding in Caparo and landslides in Gran Couva and Mamoral forced many living in those areas to try to use the Arena Road to access their homes.
But with a makeshift bamboo barrier and caution tape blocking off the area, those motorists turned around frustrated and disappointed.
“I don’t know what to do now,” one man said after reaching the bamboo barrier.
“Is hours now I trying to find a way to go home, all over block up with flood,” he added.
Aprana Boodramsingh, who lives a short distance away from the collapsed portion of the road, said residents were being slowly cut off over the past several months.
“It started as a small sinkhole on one side and as it grew, services like the garbage truck stopped coming into the area because it became too dangerous for us. Now, with the road completely collapsed, for me to get home, it adds at least an hour to my commute,” she said.
But Boodramsingh said with floods and landslides blocking other access roads to the community, residents were unable to leave their homes.
“If you go out of the area, you may not be able to get back home because if Mamoral is down, Flanagin Town floods and the main road in Caparo is flooded, there is nowhere to pass to get home,” she said.
Boodramsingh said residents were struggling to cope with the rising cost of living and the added expense of more fuel to take alternative routes was becoming too much.
“People cannot cope, people are working two and three jobs just to make ends meet. Students have exams this week and many of them may not be able to get to school because parents simply cannot afford to pay transportation costs to go the long way around,” she said.
Member of Parliament for the area Arnold Ram said on November 19, he contacted Local Government Minister, Faris Al-Rawi, seeking assistance to have the road repaired. He said engineers were sent out to assess the situation but no work has been done.
“What we would like to see in Caroni Central is the same level of urgency and priority that is being given to other parts of the country. When a sinkhole appeared in St Ann’s earlier this year, it was addressed the very next day, we are here for seven days and counting,” Ram said.
Councilor for the area Anil Baliram said the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation has not received its funding under the material and supply vault. Baliram said this money could have been used to purchase material to complete the job.
“We are going into the fourth month of the new financial year and that funding has not been released. I know the Minister will come with his famous line about unspent balances but what he is not saying is that to access that money, he needs to approve it, so getting emergency works done with that money is not so simple,” Baliram said.
He said even if the funding is released, the work cannot continue unless WASA repairs its line.
“WASA mains are run here and at present, it is leaking, so every time we do work here, the water undermines it further. So the Minister of Public Utilities needs to send his people as well to repair these lines,” Baliram said.
Guardian Media contacted Local Government Minister Al-Rawi, who said he was aware of the issue.
“The project is scoped already for a contract to be awarded,” Al-Rawi said.
He did not respond when asked when the project would start.