Residents of Zorg on the Essequibo Coast are very upset over what they say is the “half-done work” by a contractor who was hired by the Neighbourhood Demo-cratic Council (NDC) in Onderneeming.
According to reports, on Tuesday last NDC Overseer Mrs Sham Narine hired contractor Alli Khan to do some work in Third Street, Zorg. The villagers said that there appeared to be some issue and Khan’s workers were reluctant to comply with his orders to grade the road. They said the task was performed by his son, who does not have the required skill.
Villagers said the loam on the street was very wet and the particles were not compact enough to withstand the weight of the grading machine, but Khan’s son seemed to be unaware of this. He therefore proceeded to grade the road, in the process digging huge holes along the street and making “a mess” of Third Street.
When Stabroek News visited the area, the villagers were very outraged. They said they would have preferred if the road had remained the way it was. Some even said that it didn’t need any sort of grading.
This newspaper contacted the Regional Executive Officer of Region Two for a comment on the situation and was sent to Narine who is in charge of the project. She told Stabroek News that work was still in progress and the villagers needed to wait because there was other work being done elsewhere. She then refused to answer further questions.
Villagers also complained that in the process of grading the road, the contractor’s son had accidentally hit an electrical post and burst a pipe leading to the property of one Jean Lowe. This villager had to call the Guyana Water Incorporated in Anna Regina to have the problem rectified before the street flooded, since Third Street is vulnerable to such at the moment.
With regard to the electricity pole, residents said they noticed the sparking wires and immediately shut off their electrical appliances before they got damaged.
They said that after the grader was constantly being stuck in the loam, the contractor’s son stopped the work and left the road in its present unsightly state. They said Narine was there for a short while and left because she had to attend to other matters.
Two villagers, Kevin Lowe and Albert Barran, said they visited the NDC office last Thursday after they realized that no work was being done to fix the road to inquire about it. They said they were told by the person in charge that they have to wait “until the next session”.
Villagers are pleading for help since the road is virtually impassable in its present state.
They said that prior to the road being “graded” vehicles usually “bring we goods till by we house. But now we have to fetch those heavy bags by weself home.”
The holes are also causing flooding since when the rain falls it fills them up and they overflow into yards.
Villagers say it’s also very dangerous to use the road at night since it is very dark. To make matters worse, they said, the NDC took a load of sand and dumped it in the middle of the street.
