The Ministry of Housing and Water has committed to completing roads in the Diamond Housing Scheme as part of its works programme this year and it has revealed plans for the expansion of housing areas along the East Bank highway.
Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali at his first community meeting with Diamond residents for the year reminded residents that in late 2009 a community development plan for the Diamond/Grove area was established and in 2010 during the community meetings a number of issues affecting residents was discussed and steps taken to address them.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release Ali said last year three new banks, a mall, a car park and other works were done to enhance the area, with help from the private sector. He said government has also sought to address some of the issues raised at the last two meetings; it has procured vehicles to pick up stray animals in the community, and the responsibility now rests with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) to implement this policy. “They have the legislative framework available to them and they have the physical assets to help them, so the NDC will have to ensure that they take up the responsibility to get the stray catchers and make some people examples,” Ali said.
Residents also voiced concerns about the state of the roads and a new entrance and exit to the scheme. Ali said most of these concerns have been addressed and to this end a contract has been signed with the Romell Jagroop General Construction Services and Gaico Construction Incorporated. He also reminded the residents that at the last meeting a commitment was made to complete those areas that have 75% occupancy.
“So in this first phase of work, we are spending more than $130M, we’ll be completing from first to sixth streets, that is, the main roads in asphalted concrete…then we have a total of seven cross streets that will be completed in double bituminous surface treatment,” he said. Ali pointed out that government has been advocating that residents monitor works being done in their communities to ensure that quality and standards are maintained. “We want you to take this responsibility very seriously because it is a critical role,” he said.
Villagers said another major concern is that cement and sand will be mixed on the community’s roadways, causing damage to the infrastructure. The minister urged them to take a zero-tolerance approach to this issue in order to change this culture. “You know the suffering you went through as a result of the poor conditions of the road, so I’m asking you not only to be involved in the process of building the roads but also to play a critical role in ensuring that we maintain this investment so that it can be sustainable and benefit all of us long into the future,” he said.
According to GINA, the new road construction will benefit 1450 households. As regard traffic control at the head of the scheme onto the main roadway, Ali told residents that government is in the process of completing arrangements to have the four-lane highway extended from Providence to Timehri. This project is being conducted by the Ministry of Public Works. He also noted that his ministry and the public works ministry has collaborated to conduct a study of the traffic situation and had taken a decision that in addition to the four-lane road, an alternative entrance and exit road to the scheme is needed.
Ali said, “We have earmarked an area between the borders of the Topco juice factory and the Guyoil gas station. There’s a reserve there that we have earmarked for the development for the alternative access to the Diamond Housing Scheme and that development is being designed right now.” This alternate route is expected to greatly lessen the traffic congestion.
The minister plans to meet with residents in the second quarter of the year to discuss the draft design of the access road. “This scheme will form part of a broader housing initiative on the East Bank, we have major developments going on right now on the East Bank, in Providence for example, within another year we will have more than 5000 house-lots available, by the end of May this year, we will complete the expansion of Eccles where we will have about a 1000 house-lots available,” he said.
In addition, land on the Diamond main road will be expanded for housing, bringing the number to nearly 15,000 new house-lots at the end of the East Bank Development Infrastructure project. Ali said the ministry has committed to including these works in this year’s programme and it intends to deliver. The roads that will be done in the Section A Diamond area entail the removal of all the bad sections putting in suitable construction materials such as white sand, loam and asphalted concrete and on some other roads, chip seal surface. When the roads are completed they bring the total per cent of roads rehabilitated to 50.
