Only a matter of time before subsidence takes its inevitable toll on Carifesta Avenue
The distinguishing feature of any good management/leadership is the ability to anticipate future difficulties and to take corrective measures before those difficulties burgeon into immediate problems and even become catastrophes. In Guyana, if our leadership had recognized that the obvious effect of urban migration, housing schemes and growing infrastructure would be an increase in electrical consumption, they would have taken steps years ago to incrementally increase our generation capacity so that Guyanese would not have suffered the rolling black-outs of the past months.
Similarly, if our leadership had recognized the dramatic increase in importation of vehicles, and the expanded use of heavy vehicles, they would have taken steps years ago to build new roads and design new road networks capable of accommodating the volume of traffic and weight of commercial vehicles, so that Guyanese would not have suffered and still be suffering the traffic issues facing us today. The purpose of this letter is to point out a looming future difficulty, in the hope that our leaders will take corrective measures now, rather than wait for the catastrophe.
Carifesta Avenue is the main artery for vehicular traffic from the East Coast of Demerara travelling to and from Georgetown, accommodating thousands of cars each day. The southern, west-bound carriageway of Carifesta Avenue is bordered to the south by a trench, which runs from Vllissengen between the road and the National Park to turn north at Camp Street. Repeated excavation of the trench along the southern carriageway of Carifesta Avenue over the years has reduced the parapet which should separate that trench from the asphalt road to such a degree that all structural support is eroded.
It is only a matter of time before subsidence takes its inevitable toll, and the road collapses into the trench, with devastating consequences for commuters. At present, before that collapse, revetment is possible to shore up the trench, to replace the parapet, and to preserve the road. We believe that much of the work can be done from the southern side of the trench, within the National Park, so that traffic is as far as possible only minimally affected. We wait for competent leadership.