By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation received a miniscule amount of funding to fix roads and for this reason, Fletcher’s Road off Todd’s Road, Caparo, cannot be immediately repaired.
This is according to the corporation’s chairman Henry Awong.
Residents have been complaining about the road that is in disrepair but just about passable.
Resident Renny Singh said about 60 residents were affected by a major landslide especially parents of children who have to traverse to the Todd’s Road Roman Catholic Primary School to collect printed packages for their children to do work at home.
Since last year August, the road has been falling apart and residents tried to temporarily solve the problem by filling up the area with sand and broken bricks.
He said local government councillors were aware of the situation and residents were told that a lack of funding was the reason why the road could not repaired.
Awong told AZPNews.com that the matter was an urgent one and the corporation requested funding to do repairs.
Awong said, “For the fiscal year, 2020 to 2021, the corporation received $3.5million which is very minuscule for 14 electoral districts. Our draft proposal was for $8 million for road repairs and bridges. We do not want to be unreasonable but at the same time, we can do very little with the amount that has been given to us.”
He said Fletcher’s Road required a proper retaining wall which would run into a million dollar figure. He added that during the rainy season, given the geographical dimensions of the electoral districts, the corporation had to deal with several landslides affecting residents.
Awong said funding will have to be allocated through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development from the Ministry of Finance.
And he said he will once again attempt to expedite the process for obtaining funding for the road.
