Residents of Main Road, Kwakwani are complaining that it has been approximately two weeks since they have received potable water.
Residents say that about two weeks ago, workers from ASH Civil Engineering Works, a local contracting company, carried out works on a water main which had burst some time before. The residents say that since the work was completed, the flow of water was interrupted, and in some areas, is non-existent. One resident told this newspaper that numerous calls were made to the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), and on each occasion they were told that someone would arrive to assess and fix the situation, but no one ever turned up.
GWI’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Timothy Austin acknowledged that the water shortage being experienced in the area is the result of a huge water leak. However, he told Stabroek News that the responsibility for remedying this situation does not lie with GWI, but with Kwakwani Utilities Incorporated (KUI). KUI is the company responsible for providing water as well as electricity to the area. The PRO said KUI held a meeting to discuss the matter at hand and is currently in the process of addressing it. He added that GWI is ready and willing to assist if it becomes necessary.
One woman said that she contacted both GWI as well as the local utility company on the matter and was told by KUI that officials in Georgetown are telling them not to trouble the damaged mains. In the meantime, residents say that the shortages being experienced have forced them to use a nearby culvert for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing purposes.
“We know it ain’t healthy but we have to use it, we ain’t getting water from nowhere else,” said one angry resident.
On July 22 last year, an $83 million contract was signed by then CEO of
GWI Nigel Niles and Alvin Hanover of ASH Civil Engineering Works in the community for the rehabilitation of the Kwakwani water treatment plant. The old plant had been providing water to the over 3,000 residents in the community. However, the need had arisen for it to be rehabilitated owing to age and the increased population.
