Residents of Lusignan South, East Coast Demerara (ECD), are convinced that they have been given the short end of the stick by the government in the rehabilitation of the community’s main road.
The residents are dismayed that the road, which leads right through to the canefields and was in dire need of repairs, was only partially reconditioned to facilitate President Donald Ramotar’s recent visit to the area.
Efforts made by this newspaper to contact the Ministry of Public Works for a comment on this issue proved futile.
Residents stated that the road, which serves as the major thoroughfare for the Lusignan Prison, the Lusignan Landfill Site and the Lusignan Golf Course—the country’s only golf course—has always been in a bad state.
One resident stated that the road was filled with pot holes that were extremely deep and extremely wide. He also shared that in addition to this impediment, the road was also blocked in parts by heaps of garbage.
Residents shared that the road’s former condition deterred many from journeying to the landfill to dispose of their garbage. As a result, residents, as well as persons from nearby markets would off-load their garbage on the sides of the road. Eventually, “the piles of garbage became so big that they spread to the centre of the road as well,” a resident said.
According to residents, when works started on the road about three weeks ago, they were overjoyed as they thought “our time had finally come.”
The Lusignan Golf Course hosted the President’s Cup Trophy Competition on September 16 last, which was to be attended by President Ramotar.
Residents stated that leading up to the competition, intense road building activity was being conducted by the Ministry of Public Works as workers seemed to work relentlessly towards the construction of the road.
Residents were elated as the excessively bad parts of the road were graded and filled with stone as others were asphalted. Vigorous work continued everyday and though it was not completed before the president arrived, it was smooth enough for vehicles to traverse comfortably. However, much to the surprise and dismay of residents, the workers from the Ministry of Public Works never returned after the president left. And no additional works have been done on the road since September 16, leaving the road “an incomplete mess,” according to one resident.
Residents claim that over a period of 15 years, there have been no less that ten maintenance attempts on the road, each lasting for brief stints, and they eventually saw the road return to post maintenance conditions. One resident said that they did not complain about the state of the road prior to now because they realised that development took time and they believed that their time for development would come eventually.
“We are now under the impression that the works done by the Ministry of Public Works leading up to the President’s Cup was nothing more than an exhibition,” said another resident, while many others said that they felt quite disrespected.
