Dear Editor,
A day care centre is one of two multi-million dollar projects in Region 2 which now stand as white elephants when the money so expended could have been beneficially utilized otherwise.
It was only a matter of time before it was proved that a wrong decision had been taken to construct a massive one-flat concrete building within the old road section of the impoverished Maria’s Lodge village.
Several years have now passed with the centre remaining closed. It had been expected that infants and the elderly would have been taken care of there, with full facilities being provided.
Many persons including myself are of the opinion that the centre was not in a suitable location.
Questions have been raised as to whether a genuine need does exist for a centre of the kind, considering the majority of families there are very impecunious, barely managing to make ends meet.
The other project which serves no useful purpose and has been abandoned is a fenced concrete floor, now in a deplorable condition, for the drying of shrimps by the roadside of a creek, at Abrams Zuil, a short distance away from the secondary school.
The front of the creek leading to the Atlantic Ocean is used to accommodate fishing vessels with the shrimp catch seldom enough to satisfy local consumption. On conspicuous signboards nearby, the exact cost of the centre is proudly stated to be $11,694,349, with the other being $11,380,070.
Both projects were undertaken by the poor rural community support services with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank, and so far the only persons to have benefited are the contractors.
Yours faithfully,
Baliram Persaud
