Part of the challenge associated with the expansion of Guyana’s coastal housing programme is the difficulty ensuring that the provision of services for residential communities keeps pace with the creation of the communities.
Currently, the not-so-new Diamond Housing Scheme located approximately 11 miles south of the capital is facing that challenge with respect to the supply of a particularly critical resource, water. At an earlier stage of its development, the Diamond Housing Scheme housed some ten thousand residents and was served with potable water by the Guyana Water Incorporated’s (GWI) Golden Grove pump station. By 2009, however, the significant increase in the number of residents of the scheme created a notable spike in the demand for water and prompted the drilling of a new well by GWI. It was this development, some residents of the Diamond Housing Scheme told Stabroek Business earlier this week that triggered the community’s current water woes.
The infrastructure serving Diamond was created reportedly at a cost of $55 million and was intended to serve the expanded needs of the community. Two years into its life, frequent breakdowns began to call into question its ability to serve its purpose. It was not uncommon for