Residents of the Kalinago Territory, Atkinson and Antrizle met with officials from the government officials and other stakeholders to address the many challenges, particularly the level of dust, that is affecting residents.
The other stakeholders included engineers and consultants from the Ministry of Public Works, Public Utilities and Digital Economy, supervisors for the project, a representative from DOWASCO and the Kalinago Chief and councilors
During the meeting residents overwhelmingly expressed their disgust at how everyone is being affected by the dust and demanded an urgent solution. People pleaded with the authorities to find an urgent solution to this problem. Several vulnerable people in the community cannot undergo the stress of having to cope with the dust. They were referring to the sick and shut-ins, those suffering from asthma, small children who cannot protect themselves when walking to school, the sick being transported to the health center seeking medical attention, passengers on buses going to work in town or elsewhere who must all deal with the dust crisis.
Someone asked with emotion in their voice, “Are we going to die with the dust before we can see the completion of the road?” Another individual warned that soon the Sahara dust will be here and suggested that when these two mix, it will be unbearable. It was noted that the dust crisis does not only affect people directly but also takes a toll on their livelihoods such as those with retail shops, bars and restaurants, craft vendors, and those who are vending along the roadside to sustain themselves and their families financially.
Interestingly, this road network which runs from Castle Bruce to Pagua covers a distance of 20 km and is known to be a very challenging road because of numerous valleys, hills, and curves. It is also one of the most ancient road networks in Dominica. Historically, this road was used by the Kalinago ancestors for resilience against colonial masters.
Despite their complaints, the residents expressed their gratitude to all stakeholders for the “much-needed” rehabilitation of this road which they seemed to have been forgotten, and for many years commuters, bus drivers, and vehicle owners had to negotiate potholes, crevices, and unbearable rough surfaces on their travels.
The majority of those present also expressed their thanks to the management and staff of DOWASCO for their prompt service when called upon to repair broken water pipes.
At present, residents are anxiously awaiting the completion of this road which they hope will transform their lives for the better. During this period of waiting, however, they must endure many hardships and inconveniences. Deplorable road conditions, daily clouds of dust, and the risk of getting sick are all factors that will contribute to this hardship.
Unfortunately, the dust crisis will continue until the completion of the road, projected for the end of this year. In the meantime, the authorities are proposing a ”band-aid” solution to this problem: water trucks to wet the roads on a daily basis and to pray for rain.
This road project , is full of bad managment, and corruption. A contractor, parl rep. village council,chief, and DLP government that does not care about the people suffering. The dust for the tarish, is chocking Atkinson, everything is dusty white. When it rains, the whole village is a mud, lake swamp, land slides, with vehicles, unable to drive. That res DLP cabal cannot tell the contractor and thing, because, its alleged, the contractor finance their campaigns. They fired the nicaragua engineers after they got paid, why the cabal could not find caribbean engineer. And also the world bank, also need the take some heat too, because they are paying for this crap. They are paying for an office in atkinson, which is never open,and someone is getting paid for. talk about tax payer money being stolen. But their are some who say they like it SOO,
There should be a fine to gaddarkhan for beaching his contact by riping up all of the road surface, which he was suppose to do contractually in phases. Regulators? Who protects the health and interest of us Dominicans? This is an unnecessary hindrance had gaddarkhan done his work as per his contract, total disregard for us and our government helping this foreign entity in this process of disregard. Contract breached as stated by the PM but no consequences while people suffer.
I fully understand the Kalinago,sometimes that is the price of progress.The Kalinago people are wise and strong unlike the UWP aholes.They survived hurricane Maria,they survived covid-19 and they survived the brutality of UWP.They will survive the dust.
Lin clown you are not wise and probably the only thing strong about you is your body odor and your morning breath. everything out of your rectum for a mouth is uwp uwp. All now so uwp give up on Dominica. But like a fool you still running your mouth about a political party that is currently irrelevant in these times. uwp uwp uwp.. IDK what Edison james did to you but you sound foolish.
What uwp got to do with that,,,they not in parliament anymore….