Workers of the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) and residents of the area are threatening to take to the street again in protest action to force the commencement of works on Casuarina Drive at Mackenzie.
This was a step taken by the hospital staff in May 2012 and supported by several taxi drivers, residents and owners of vehicles who traversed the road regularly. The stretch of Casuarina Drive referred to runs from the LHC to Fair’s Rust Junction.
Yesterday morning Stabroek News’s attention was directed to a laden Bedford Truck GNN 9488 belonging to Kurunduni Logging and Development Limited of 78-79 High and Cowan streets, Kingston, which was stuck on the road close to the entrance of the LHC. “If this truck could make it through the Ituni and Kwakwani trail and end up sticking here [it] is testimony [to] the atrocious state of this road,“ said a driver.
It was anticipated that the rehabilitation of the road would have been well under way since a contract to the sum of $6.9 million was awarded to Sukram and Associates in early July this year.
Another $5 million or $6 million were shortly after awarded to an unconfirmed contractor to do the drains along the road.
Regional Chairman Kuice Sharma Solomon had told this newspaper that some mobilization was to be done by Sukram and Associates. Yet more than two weeks had passed and there was no evidence of any mobilization work on the road.
The town was hit by a protest on July 18, which went beyond one month. “It is no excuse for any contractor not to start working three weeks after things were back to normal and the protest had ended,“ said Solomon at the recent sitting of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) on Thursday last.
The extensive delays in the execution of capital and current work project in the region have been condemned by Minister within the Ministry of Local Government Norman Whittaker, as he noted well over $200 million would likely have to be returned to the treasury. To avoid this Whittaker had advised Regional Executive Officer Yolanda Hilliman to take swift action to ensure the monies are spent in a timely manner on the projects for which they were allocated. Solomon was also challenged to stay on top of the situation.
Hilliman is expected to submit to Solomon a detailed report on the status and budgets for the works on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a taxi driver said: “We are prepared to go back to the street if this situation of this hospital road is not addressed soon.“ Another said it was a shame on the contractor because he would have had almost two months to mobilize. “The day after the protest don he shoulda be the first to be out here to start working on this road. He had a lot of time to put things together.”
Sections of the road at the entrance to the LHC have been eroded while parents whose children attend the Watooka Nursery and Primary schools are continuing to pay exorbitant transportation costs to have their children driven to school.
Parents who cannot afford to pay have been forced to allow their children to traverse that section of the road by foot, jostling with vehicular traffic for the best places to walk. With the dry weather, the road is a blinding dusty stretch much to the discomfort of students of the two schools and pedestrians.
Casuarina Drive is also the only entrance to the Watooka Club and Guest House which is the main venue for state visits, and the Linden branch of the National Communica-tions Network.
