….as supplies dwindleLethem residents are being forced to buy-back fuel from Brazil as stocks run low in face of the closure of a road that links that border area to Linden.Residents yesterday said that a gallon of gasoline is now going for as much as $1,000 with the power company there reportedly only having stocks to last until today.With Brazil’s border area finding fuel much cheaper on the Guyana side, brisk trade has been going on for the past few years and local retailers,Wholesale Stitched Jerseys, banking on the re-opening of the Linden/Lethem Road which was closed to traffic over the past week to facilitate repairs, have severely depleted their stocks.Yesterday, there was not much gasoline left in Lethem, and some residents were reportedly forced to buy-back fuel from the same people who had purchased from the area.“We are buying fuel for almost $350 a litre when normally it costs us $200,” said businessman Daniel Gajie,Wholesale NHL Jerseys 2020, yesterday. “Also beverage supplies are fast running out.”Gajie explained that while the road closure has affected the construction industry in Lethem heavily with cement and steel supplies very low,Authentic Jerseys China, there is still enough food to last in the event that there are more delays.It is estimated that Lethem alone,Jerseys NFL China, on a daily basis, uses 100 drums of fuel, and this includes stocks for the power company.Last week,Wholesale Jerseys, government announced the closure of the roadway for two days after floodwaters covered large sections of it, with erosion reported in other parts.However, with several miles of roadway to be fixed and rains affecting work, the roadway still remained closed as of yesterday.On Monday, the Ministry of Public Works said that light vehicles would have started to pass as early as yesterday, but this has not been confirmed. Arrangements were also being put in place to allow fuel tankers to pass on the road or even effect transfers to smaller pickups in order to ensure that Lethem is supplied with fuel, the Ministry had assured.There have been complaints that despite restrictions on the passage of heavy trucks on the road, a few were still getting through and this was damaging a roadway, already soggy from the rains, even more.Public Works officials said that on some days, more than five trucks have to be pulled from the deep ruts, further causing delays in repair works.Meanwhile, Gajie, a Past President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, yesterday criticized the road operations and its maintenance programme.He claimed that between 2006 and 2009, the Chamber and residents of Lethem had been calling for the establishment of a special committee that would have monitored the repairs to the road.“We are not comfortable with this current programme where officials just visit two…three times a year,Cheap NFL Football Jerseys, and are not consulting sufficiently with us. We called for the establishment of this oversight committee which would have included representatives of Region Nine and Ten, the Chamber, the Ministry of Public Works and others.”The businessman questioned whether government was really getting value for money with indications of poor quality material being used to repair the roadway.“I do believe that government is being shortchanged because every year, you have to go back and repair the same bad section.”According to Gajie, with main contractor, MMC, tasked with many other works, there seems to be little “interest” in ensuring that the job there is properly done.He also questioned whether the company is technically capable of handling repairs to parts of the 300-plus mile stretch of road and noted that the compactor, a piece of equipment owned the company, is too small to conduct some of the work.Making his case for the establishment of the committee, Gajie pointed out that the government’s programme ends by November/December every year but in April/May not much happens. He opined that the committee could help in identifying the key bad areas and ensure that quality work is done to repair them in the interim.Driver expected in court today The driver of the canter truck which was involved in an accident last Sunday night, resulting in the death of a carpenter is expected in court today.A post mortem was done on the remains of Yogeshwar Samaroo yesterday and the results showed that he died as a result of injuries consistent with an accident.On Sunday night last, Samaroo of Ninth Street, Diamond New Scheme, East Bank Demerara, was struck off his bicycle in the vicinity of Seventh Street.At the time the man, who was a carpenter, was returning home after visiting a sibling.Kaieteur