How about a swimming pool on your road?

By Vatapuia Maiava 29 November 2016, 12:00AM

Living along a road in a bad state is bad enough, but when you add swimming pool sized potholes to the mix then you have yourself a real issue. 

Aitulagi Sale, from the village of Falelauniu says this has been a issue in her village for about two years now with no attention from the government.

The pothole right in front of her house covers the entire road and is at least as deep as an open hand.

More potholes continue to grow in size and Aitulagi fears that her entire road will turn into a muddied river soon.

“Back when we were just fixing up our water here in the house, that’s around the same time we started to notice bit potholes on our road,” she told the Village Voice.

“That was two years ago. It started off as something small but as time went by, it got bigger and bigger without anyone offering to fix it.

“Now if you look at it, it is not only as wide as the road, it very deep.”

One of the issues with having such a large pothole is the difficulty for cars getting through it. This results in village cars going right around the village to get to their house.

“It’s hard to pass the pothole to get to the other side of the road,” Aitulagi said. “That’s the issue we face here, our families who want to come see us have to drive right around the village just to get to our house which could easily be a few seconds drive if the road was fixed.

“The alternative to getting to our house is still not good because the rest of the road is in such a bad state.” The water within the potholes also acts as a breeding ground for mosquitoes which affects those living in the area.

“Another problem is the mosquitoes,” Aitulagi said.

“That big puddle is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and now there is another pothole developing right next to it.

“Now we are living right next to the breeding ground and we face the brunt of the mosquito problem. It’s like a river or an ocean in front of my house.

“We joke around about how the tide comes in for the ocean and in front of the house at the same time.”

Aitulagi says that no requests were sent to the government but feels that this is where common sense comes into play when they drive past and see the swimming pool potholes.

“My family hasn’t sent a request to the government but I don’t think there’s a need for it because they pass by and can see the problem themselves,” she said.

“Many road workers come and fix the main road but they turn a blind eye to our swimming pool pothole. They don’t want to do anything to help us. “My only message to the P.M. and his cabinet is to please show some sympathy to families facing this issue. It’s bad for the cars and the buses which come by our road.

“It’s also a hassle going all the way around the village to get home.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 29 November 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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