Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson is contemplating implementing the use of escrow accounts for utility companies to facilitate necessary removals during construction.
According to a press release from Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the minister shared the escrow account option during a press conference held on Monday last addressing the delay of the Caribbean Development Bank funded Vreed-en-Hoop to Hydronie road project.
This option would give the ministry leverage to expedite the removal of utilities that encumber road projects. Patterson said the issue is perennial and it has “plagued the East Bank and East Coast road projects and this [Vreed-en-Hoop to Hydronie] has fallen prey to that.”
Further, the ministry said the utility companies, Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL), Guyana Water Inc (GWI) and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Com-pany (GTT) are all empowered by the law to act appropriately.
The issue of introducing the use of escrow accounts, Patterson said has been discussed with both the officials at utility companies and his colleagues in the Cabinet.
“The time may come for us to probably charge a minimal fee to the utilit[y] companies,” Patterson said, “to put into an escrow account.” In this way, “should we need to proceed with road expansions, we would just have to take those funds out of the account without being subjected to the whims and fancies, and technical availabilities of the companies to relocate.”
