In an attempt to decongest Lamaha Street from Vlissengen Road to Main Street, the Public Works Ministry has struck a deal with local businesses to utilise the Lamaha Railway Embankment for temporary parking lots.
Minister of Transport Robeson Benn said this was a temporary solution, while the government moves through the process of conceptualising and implementing a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).
“We spoke to local businesses, well, we were approached and some of them wrote to the ministry and wanted to use the space,” Benn said.
He told Stabroek News that the land was still owned by the ministry and it would not be renting the spaces. “Businesses were granted temporary licences and the understanding is that they can be revoked at any time… We will take whatever is there when we are ready, whatever is sunk into the ground,” he added.
He said renting the land was also not considered, because no timeline was given for the temporary parking that was being constructed now, and brushed off land rental as a form of investment.
Benn said the parking issue has been raised numerous times and parking was a “transient problem.” However, through the years, the problem which used to affect traffic during rush hour now affects traffic along the area throughout the day. He said businesses needed parking and they were willing to develop the land.
Benn said the ministry would not be incurring any charges as “the business are responsible for everything, not us. We are letting them use the space… It is our property whenever we are ready for it again,” he further said.
He said two local businessmen had requested the use of the space after the government scrapped plans for using the embankment for Guyana Revenue Authority parking.
Benn said the temporary parking would not pose issues for any planned works the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) had with regard to the area.
He said that while squatters were removed from the area back in 2009, because GPL was utilising the area for high-powered electricity lines, “even if they build or do anything you are only parking there in and out.”
Benn said there was no health risk with temporary parking as there had been when squatters were living on the embankment. “This is not a big issue, the land is still owned by the ministry and we are solving a problem right now,” he intoned.
BRTS
The minister said the Lamaha Railway Embankment was one of the proposed sites for a BRTS, which would work in a complementary way with the current private minibuses. “This is just an idea, we started thinking about this last year,” he said. The old Lamaha Railway Station building, which is in a state of severe disrepair, would be renovated under the new project.
“We aren’t anywhere yet… We studied BRTS’ in Chile and Peru and Trinidad… The concept engineers are refining the idea because the discussion started last year,” Benn told Stabroek News. He said the temporary parking lots would be acquired by the ministry as when the BRTS project was established the area would be utilized by passengers.
“This is an idea and it is in the proposal phase. We have to study how it would be fully integrated; the size of buses, the roads…,” Benn said.
“We had originally thought of making the embankment into a footpath and a bicycle path and that is still a possibility.”
Benn said the need for a BRTS was extremely important because of Guyana’s congestion issues. BRTS are often used alongside specially developed roadways and general public access roads. The aim is to have a metro system, but to use buses to keep costs low.
