Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan says landslip repairs have been ramped up with three separate units working to repair slippages and dilapidated roads.
Among the roads earmarked for repairs is the 14-mile mark Penal Rock Road which has ten landslips. The road is located in the constituency of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and over the past few months residents have staged numerous protests asking the government to fix the problem.
As he toured a landslip repair site at Bonne Aventure, Gasparillo, yesterday Sinanan said the Ministry has ramped up its landslip repair programmes and tenders have gone out to fix three landslips along the Penal Rock Road.
“We have major landslips in the west and we are also doing road paving at Picton Road, Laventille. Here we are doing sheet piling,” he said referring to the repairs at Gasparillo.
“Last year we had a significant number of landslips because of the rain. Landslips cannot be repaired just like that. We have to do soil testing, boreholes, and designs. We are seeing a new system being used where we are using more sheet piles.”
He said an oil company donated a significant amount of sheet piles and pipes to the Works Ministry.
“This is going to help us address the landslips. We have three units doing landslips now. The PURE (Programme Upgrade for Roads Efficiency) has ramped up its landslip programme, the BLT (Bridges, Landslip and Traffic Management) they do the big landslips, and we have the Highway Division starting a lot of landslips,” he explained.
Once landslips are repaired, Sinanan said road paving will start.
“We had promised from the start of the dry season there will be an improvement in the road network,” he added.
Sinanan said there is now more funding for road paving.
Since last year landslips have been developing at an unprecedented rate. Last August, Skinner Trace in Siparia began collapsing, destroying a house and toppling electrical lines.
In Lengua, St Croix and St Julien more than 25 houses have collapsed within five years, displacing dozens of people. In various parts of Claxton Bay, including Hilltop Road, Macaulay Road and Belle View, more than 15 houses have collapsed and families have been forced to live without basic amenities like garbage disposal and pipe-borne water.
In the southwestern peninsular, the Southern Main Road has caved in multiple places, while in east Trinidad, Guayaguayare Road, Manzanilla Main Road, and Rio Claro/Guayaguayare Road have all been undermined by slippages. In Penal along Scotts Road, Rivero Trace, Rock Road, Goodman Trace and Sammy Trace, quarrying and ad-hoc development have been blamed for making the soil vulnerable to erosion. However, experts have said extensive rainfall triggered slippages.