Garbage lines the streets at Silvertown, Wismar, Linden, where fed-up residents yesterday called on members of the newly-elected Region 10 Regional Democratic Council (RDC) to take immediate action.
“Please y’all do something about this situation here for us, please. Our children can’t go out to play. Mosquitoes and flies taking over our homes; rats and roach kicking skin and the Town Council ain’t coming to do nothing about this situation here at all,” a female resident urged a team of RDC officials that was on a walkabout in the area.
She was one of many residents who called for immediate measures to be taken to address the situation at Bamboo Circle, Silvertown, where persons from within and outside the community have been dumping garbage in an open area alongside the road. The garbage heap now extends to the middle of the road, making it impassable.
Following a request by APNU councillor Gerald Wittington, who is also a resident of Silvertown, the RDC team, including Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon, councillors Stanley Humphrey and Maurice Butters and Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon, visited the area. The team was greeted by the stench from the piled garbage before even reaching Bamboo Circle, and there was garbage strewn along a nearby road.
Solomon agreed with residents that there is a lot that needs to be done in the area and promised that the issues will be addressed but he urged patience. “These works will be done; we just want persons to be a little patient with us. The fact that Mr Wittington mentioned that this situation was brought up over five years, I think it is something that we can deal with as an emergency,” he said.
He added that improper garbage disposal plagues almost every community in Linden. “I have always said this: the council has the responsibility to maintain but people must be responsible for disposal. We need to put out an awareness programme and it must come through the administration in conjunction with the Town Council,” Solomon said. He also pointed out that there are cases of Leptospirosis in Linden and sources confirmed that there was a case in Amelia’s Ward and garbage was said to be the source of the infection.
Wittington said that during the five-year life of the last RDC, he reported the garbage disposal problem and highlighted the state of the roads in Silvertown but nothing was ever done. He stressed that there is urgent need for Fourth Street, which is a dam with a narrow track, to be developed into a proper road while Jordon Road needs to be reconstructed—positions that all residents endorsed.
“Would you believe this is a road? Just look at this situation here. It’s disgusting and it’s time that we get this situation addressed,” said resident Jeffrey Trotman.
“Deh seh Fourth Street ain’t deh on Silvertown map, so is like we living in no man’s land,” yelled a woman from her window. Another resident said that for almost all her life, she has been living in Fourth Street and nothing was ever done about the situation. “We are treated here like we are not tax paying citizens of this country. This street has the most children for all of Silvertown and we can’t afford to allow them to even play in the yard because this place is infested, full, full of snakes,” she said.
Solomon also agreed that Fourth Street “is not even fit to be called a street; that is a track.”
Meanwhile, the Jordon Road extends from the top of “Tar Hill” to Burnham Drive and provides the only access to the Wismar Post Office. Recently, frustrated staff of the post office highlighted the bad state of the road.
Ronald Lieu-Ken-Pen, who lives at the head of Jordon Road, said that he is fearful that someone would be seriously hurt or lives could be lost because of a rotten culvert at the head of the road, which is currently being eroded. Several feet of roadway have already caved in on one side.
“Almost every night there is an accident here where somebody or some vehicle does fall in or slip off this road and this is something that I have been talking about for two years now,” he said. Like other residents, Lieu-Ken-Pen noted that the problem was reported on numerous occasions to the town’s administration but nothing was done.
