I would like to add some comments to your editorial titled ‘Rush Hour‘ (November 24).
The traffic problems on the East Bank of Demerara were created by poor planning, the selling off of government reserves and by allowing new businesses and housing near to busy roadways. The result is choked roads. The situation will get worse with the selling off of the Diamond canefields.
Traffic was so bad that heavy vehicles were given scheduled times to use the EBD roads. Things were allowed to deteriorate before government acted, as in the case of Diamond. Chaos reigned supreme for years at the front of the Diamond Scheme with the muddy carpark , makeshift market and a badly designed bridge. Afterthought planning went into full gear to try and solve some of the problems. With new businesses being allowed to locate on the strip near to the proposed 4-lane highway at Diamond, it would suggest that the authorities did not have a serious master plan with an economic/commercial zone in this humongous scheme, or for that matter in any other schemes. This warped mentality of locating everything by the roadside must stop.
A decent 4-lane highway on the EBD was planned a long time ago, but was shunted aside. The older folks on the EBD will remember that around the late ’60s and early ’70s from Providence to Diamond the canefields were shifted east along with the trenches. Even residents of Grove had to shift their fences eastwards. Residents were looking forward to an expanded road system, notably a spacious and well-designed 4-lane highway from Providence to Diamond.
What happened? A sellout? Of reserves?
Herstelling New Scheme (without some necessary facilities) was set up on land set aside for the 4-lane highway and on reserves. The filled-in old trench was redug, the new trench filled and new houses were built close to the road.
Covent Garden: The same refilling and redigging happened here undertaken by some unknown group which had started basic work very close to the road.
Farm: Bougainvillea scheme (facilities?) went through the same process.
Providence: Houses are going up on the reserve set aside for the road. An exit lane/ramp is badly needed to cater for the hotel and stadium.
Prospect to Diamond presents a refreshing change of scenery on the eastern side.
Editor this little saga is all about the selling of reserves at the expense of the people and good design. Questions must be asked. Will the Ministry of Works undertake to clear the reserves of houses built on the original route for the highway? Will the EBD 4-lane look like Peters Hall or Bagotstown or a Regent Street? Ugly? Is it the intention to choke the EBD road and other roads of the country by permitting construction and condoning businesses along the roads? Why is there no economic/commercial zone within this humongous scheme and other schemes? Must everyone travel to GT to conduct business and thereby add to the traffic congestion?
Will there ever be any form of landscaping and the removal of that insidious snackette at Diamond on the reserve?
Gone are the days of driving by a scenic ricefield or canefield. Townspeople need not go for a drive in the country as all they will be seeing is a line of houses à la Georgetown. Artists need to record these scenes before they disappear.
New thinking and visionary planning can help to move away from the roadside and estate mentality. Even a schoolboy with a bit of TD and an Auto Cad can come up with better plans than the Central Housing and Planning Authority. The Minister of Tourism has to be involved in the planning of roads and schemes and landscaping and beautification. Tourism is not only about the interior. Landscaping is a foreign word here.
The location of Mocha is a master stroke. We need more communities, with all the necessary facilities, away from the main highway. I cannot understand why the roads have to be choked when Guyana, unlike some islands in the Caribbean, has all this land.
There should be vision and imagination in planning our roads and schemes and it should be realised that not all old plans are bad plans.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
