Residents fixing what Government failed to address

by Kareem Smith

Frustrated with broken promises from successive Governments over the years about addressing the vexing problem of land slippage, residents in a St. Andrew community have taken matters into their own hands.

On any given evening just after 4 p.m., a visit to King Street, St Simon will reveal men at work packing gabions to repair a road that has been breaking away for over a decade.

There is only one road leading into the community.

Because of the slippage, large vehicles like fire trucks, garbage trucks, and water tanks cannot enter, making life miserable for the close-knit community.

One of the men leading the charge, John Forde revealed that about three weeks ago, the men began packing the gabion baskets with large stones, fearful that the rainy season could do even more damage.

“We decided that the people who are supposed to do the road aren’t doing the road, and this is where we live. So we decided that we were going to do the road ourselves,” Forde told Barbados TODAY.

They are using a bobcat owned by a man named Charles, who owns CNK Trucking and a truck owned by Damian Lowe, the Managing Director of Lowe’s Trucking Services.

“I don’t know who donated the rocks, but I know the bobcat loaded the trucks, and they brought the stones. As for the gabion baskets, I got up one morning and saw them here. I don’t know where they came from. I guess somebody donated them,” said Forde.

He said residents were tired of getting visits from parliamentarians and government ministers with media personnel promising to fix the issues but failing to deliver.

Still, the residents were surprised that the only assistance had come from Democratic Labour Party candidate Oldwin Skeete who donated a small piece of equipment to the cause amid an election campaign.

Forde believes the road was never correctly constructed with a mechanism to allow water to run its course, causing the gabions to move out of place during heavy rains, thereby destroying the road.

Lowe explained that his trucks could not pass on the road for months, and the problems only got worse when the communities were without running water late last year.

“Water tanks couldn’t get past here. Up to late last year, we were suffering without water, and they had to end up sending the smaller ones, and we had to wait long for water up here, and those things don’t make sense,” Lowe told Barbados TODAY.

“I didn’t want to do it, but I said this isn’t good enough.

So I told my cousin Charles that I wanted his bobcat, and we started the work,” he added.

Lights were assembled to allow the work to occur at night, and according to Lowe, the project will take about a month to be completed.

“Honestly, the guys have their jobs, so we have to wait until they get home, and whatever work they can do, they do,” Lowe said.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb