-Corbin urges gov’t
The main opposition PNCR has charged the government with gross neglect of East Bank Berbice, citing the deplorable state of the East Bank Berbice Road as “the greatest evidence of this” and so Opposition Leader Robert Corbin is calling for repairs to be effected immediately.
The party said in a press release on Monday that Corbin led a visit to East Bank Berbice last Sunday and in meetings with the residents of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sisters Village and members of the Hire Car Drivers Association, several persons voiced their concerns over the deplorable state of the roads and expressed their disgust over the neglect by the administration.
According to the release, they complained that they had written to Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn and explained the plight of their community which has resulted in severe hardships to residents as well as those using motor vehicles on the road.
After the residents had engaged in protest action, the release continued, they were then summoned by Minister Benn to a meeting but he did not address their problems.
The government has since said that major repair works to the East Bank Berbice public road should get underway next month and $18M was budgeted by government for this in addition to funds usually granted for remedial work.
Minister Benn said that there has been a request for the ministry to undertake the repairs to the road, but this will not be possible until a further three weeks, the Government Information agency (GINA) reported.
“It is not surprising that the minister showed no genuine concern over the plight of the residents and displayed the level of arrogance that the residents complained about to the Leader of the Opposition,” the PNCR release noted yesterday.
It observed too that President Jagdeo himself did not see it fit to visit East Bank Berbice, even though he had gone to Albion to attend the Berbice Expo and Trade Fair and to open the new Ophthalmology Center donated by the Cuban government.
It is becoming evident, the PNCR contended, that “the Jagdeo administration is increasingly losing touch with various communities around the country and, as a consequence, has ignored the many problems affecting them.”
And in an invited comment after the visit to East Bank Berbice last Sunday, Corbin stated that “it is a disgrace for President Jagdeo to have gone to Berbice to open the Expo and to debate and define aspects of the Cuban Revolution but could not have the decency and respect to visit the people of East Bank Berbice to assist them in their serious plight,” the release said.
