Dear Editor,
I am a resident of Block X Great Diamond. After enduring years of indescribable inconvenience and uncertainty, I was elated to learn some months back that the roads in this section of the housing scheme will be upgraded.
Residents were summoned to a meeting at the Diamond Secondary School where they were informed by the Minister of Housing and Water that the six avenues of Block X will be upgraded with concrete asphalt, while seven of the cross streets will be bitumen covered. Further, we were informed that the specifications for these works will be freely accessible to all residents by visiting the NDC’s office and making a request to Mr Ron Robinson, who was introduced as the area representative in this regard.
The engineer in charge of the project and the contractor who was awarded the contract were duly introduced to all of the residents present at this meeting. As expected, the photo ops were evident.
To date yours truly was unsuccessful in accessing the specifications from any of the aforementioned sources. In fact, I was told by a member of the NDC that the Minister of Housing and Water was wrong to have informed residents that we could freely access these specifications.
When the surfacing of 1st Avenue, where I live, commenced I spoke to the person in charge of the operation, who informed me that the concrete asphalt cover will be two inches thick as on the main access road to this scheme. To date only one layer of this material which is less than two inches was applied. There was no information that another layer would be applied.
Most shockingly, residents of 2nd to 6th Avenues observed workers filling potholes and covering these with bitumen. Upon enquiry, residents were told that the avenues other than 1st Avenue will not be completely resurfaced, and the works only include the filling and sealing of potholes.
Have the residents of Block X Great Diamond been misled?
I invite the Minister of Housing and Water to have this matter investigated and offer an explanation to us. The Minister in his address to us admonished us to protect, care and ensure that the streets in Block X be preserved for our use, since they are ours.
Are we victims of one of the many other road contract scandals that seem to abound around Guyana?
Yours faithfully,
Mahadeo Deokinandan
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Mr Irfaan Ally, Minister of Housing and Water for any comment he might wish to make.
