Last night, we told you about the distress of Trio Village residents, a community in northern Toledo. The main road in and out of their community is impassable because portions of it have fallen into a significant state of disrepair.
Members of the community say that there is constant heavy traffic from big agriculture trucks and from the quarry in the village, which they believe contributed to the damaged road. One resident also suggested that governments of the past have neglected their road struggles for years.
But after two days of lost classes because teachers couldn't commute to the village school, and high school students couldn't reach Independence Village for classes - the bad road is finally getting attention.
In a Facebook post today, the Trio Government school said, quote, "Parents and students of Trio Government School please take note that there will be no classes today, January 10… The road condition is still not passable for the teachers' bus to reach the school." End quote.
Today, we reached out to the officials at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing for comment, and the Chief Engineer told us this evening via Zoom that teams have been dispatched to conduct repairs:
Lennox Bradley, Chief Engineer, MIDH
"We are aware that the Trio road is not in the best of conditions and the motoring public and pedestrians are having challenges with access. What we have done is from last night we have been mobilizing equipment there and today we had a start and this is in between the weather conditions. But we are on Trio road right now and really we have about 2 main sections that are making it a bit challenging for the public, you have about quarter mile in from the southern highway where you have a 200 meter section and then closer to the village you have a 400 meter section that has been affected. And we still have heavy loads being pass on that road. The ministry is in a very sort of a tricky situation here, because we are trying to address the needs of the public in general and by that I mean we are trying to allow farmers to bring out their produce, as well as we have to ensure that access is there for the general public - students as you mentioned earlier. And so in trying to strike that balance sometimes we have these challenges. The weather condition has not been supportive, but we are out there and I feel that by tomorrow morning we should have those 2 sections really address. We have a private contractor there with some of our equipment addressing the road as we speak."
"We have 2,820 miles of road that we have to address. That's the minimum and we still have some roads out there that we have not really open and to have farmers and residents and villagers etc, have access. There are still some public roads that we need to open in the rural areas. But out of that 2,820 miles, 80% are gravel surface or earth roads. The earth roads meaning that the roads have been open and shaped, but not surface with suitable gravel material. But a good portion of it have been gravelled and gravelled road requires regular maintenance. They can provide the level of maintenance that is commensurate with the funds that have been allocated and we are doing our best. We are really focusing on the rural areas, but weather conditions have not been helpful."
"In fact, in the Toledo District we have committed 3.5 million about around late September last year when we had several roads that were having difficulty and to a certain extent, we still have some challenges with those roads, but they are open to the public - they are accessible, but a bit challenging. But that 3.5 million has not been spent yet, although we have contractors on the ground, but its primarily because of weather conditions and we can't tell the motoring public to stop use the roads. Business still have to continue and so its a difficult balance and that's what we are trying to do - allowing business and the movements of goods and people to continue and at the same time trying to keep these roads accessible."
Chief Engineer Bradley told us that although a community member insisted that Central Government hadn't paid their road problem the proper attention, they had to conduct repairs on it shortly after Hurricane Lisa last year. He tells us that another nearby community of San Pablo is experiencing the same road problems as Trio, and the Ministry will address it ASAP.
