Fed up of gaping potholes and muddy roads caused by heavy-duty equipment, La Brea residents mounted a barricade of tyres and bamboo across Pier Road, Point D’Or, causing work to stop on a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) project. For the second day, over a dozen residents withstood the sun to guard the entrance of the HDC project until the contractors agreed to repair the roads and driveways, and fill mosquito larva-infested trenches.
“There was no work yesterday, there is no work today and there will be no work tomorrow until this matter is addressed,” resident Clem Trim said yesterday. Standing behind the barricade in overalls, he said he, like many other tradesmen in the area, could not even get employment on the job site.
Brighton/Vessigny councillor Gerald Debisette said contractors had moved in containers and equipment last June to build an additional 60 units. With the constant passing of cement trucks, dump trucks and excavators, he said, the road had become so poor that taxis had refused to enter the area. Several drivers had their vehicle suspensions damaged and had raised the fare from $7 to $15 a person.
He said the contractors left a lot of dust on the road and recent rains have left it muddy and dangerous for cars. Debisette added: “The contractors are using the roadway to transport the material with heavy duty equipment and they have damaged the road which was good before they started construction. “All the residents are asking is that the contractors repair the road. They have even destroyed some people’s driveways, causing water to run into their homes.
“Now the garbage truck is not coming in the village so residents have to walk to the main road to drop their garbage. Schoolchildren aren’t being picked up either so they have to walk to the main road.” Trim said because of last week’s heavy rains, trenches dug to lay foundations were full of water but the contractors had refused to pump it out and dismissed complaints. Georgia Preddie added that an area earmarked for a children’s play park was now being turned into a sewage plant.
