Emergency works on the Hunt Oil stretch of the Lethem-Georgetown road have successfully been completed and, as of Friday afternoon, traffic flow had resumed as per normal.
The much needed repairs comes on the heels of, among other problems, a fuel shortage in Lethem, which was occasioned by the inability of truckers, among other vehicle operators, to transport goods due to the deteriorated state of the roads.
Lethem residents and vehicle operators plying the Lethem–Georgetown route had been calling on the authorities to have the roads repaired.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) attributed the deterioration of the remedied stretch to prolonged rainfall.
According to the MPI, part of the challenge of having the road fixed as quickly as possible was the hauling of laterite from more than 20 kilometres away to ensure the sourcing of quality material.
“The contractor, JR Ranch Inc., revealed that sections at the side of the roadway before the particularly bad areas were first filled to create turnaround spots for the trucks due to the road’s narrowness. Three areas along the stretch were also filled and compacted. Furthermore, an excavator was used to form two cofferdams at the sides of the eroded spot in an effort to remove all accumulated slush and water prior to filling and compaction” MPI said in a release.
The Ministry and the contractor promised to continue monitoring the stretch of road to ensure that there is no further need for filling and compaction and that the issue does not reoccur.
Meanwhile, according to the MPI, a maintenance programme under the Ministry’s Hinterland Department will soon be coming on-stream to rehabilitate a number of corridors, including those from Linden-Lethem; Ituni-Kwakwani; and Mabura-Mahdia. This programme is slated to last for one year.
