Four months ago, residents living on this piece of road at Tiavi were over the moon that the government had finally moved to seal their road with tar.
Today, that joy has turned to disappointment after the heavy rain washed away a large part of the tar, leaving the residents exposed to the nasty nature of the road again.
The road in question is a left turn off Falealili Road when you head down the hill from Tiavi towards Siumu. It is a popular spot for tourists and locals.
But many of them will be having second thoughts after the heavy rain during the past couple of days dealt the road a major blow.
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A resident in the area who asked for his name to be withheld is fuming.
“Four months after this road was fixed, it is already falling apart,” he said. “It is such a short period of time and yet look at it.”
For the resident, this is why he is speaking out. The project, he said, cost close to a million tala.
“Like I said, this road is a new road and it was only built during the time of the Small Island Developing States Conference. However, now we are concerned about our safety.”
The disgruntled resident doesn’t want people to get the wrong impression about why he is complaining.
“We are so thankful that we have a tar sealed road because this is better than what it was before when we first moved here,” he said.
“But the problem is when a project like this big is undertaken, you’d expect it to last longer than it has.”
He added: “The government has spent a lot of money in fixing this road so they should also make sure that it lasts longer and it remains in good condition.”
The residents are so concerned about the safety of visitors to their road they have placed yellow ribbons to warn motorists about the dangerous spots.
“We wanted to warn people so that they could be a little more careful,” he said.
Lastly, he reminded: “This is the result of one day of heavy rain. Imagine if it rained for the whole year?”
The Samoa Observer contacted the Land Transport Authority for a comment yesterday.
An official who is not authorised to speak with the media said they have already received a letter from the residents of the area complaining about the road.
The official would not divulge who the contractor is but he assured that they have been informed and that they will probably start fixing the road today.
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