Residents of Buxton yesterday peppered a high-level government delegation, led by Prime Minister Mark Phillips, with a flurry complaints on deplorable streets, the need for a farm-to-market road and drainage issues.
At the conclusion of the lengthy session at the Buxton Community Centre, assurances were given by the governmental delegation that their concerns would be addressed.
Throughout the engagement, the Buxton residents highlighted the deplorable condition of their streets and the plight their village farmers face. According to residents, the cross-streets have been deteriorating for years, and despite recommendations to have them repaired, this is yet to be done. Region Four Councillor, Evelyn Estwick, declared that her proposal to rehabilitate several streets in the village was rejected and not included in the 2022 budget. The regional councillor pointed out that she had made several recommendations for seven roads in Buxton to be rehabilitated under the 2022 regional budget allocation.
“Since I hear 2023 budget preparing I run last week and put in, I ain’t know what gon happen, I ain’t know if Mr. [Donald] Gajraj [Regional Executive Officer] will hijack the budget again because he do that the last time, he ain’t bring it to council, then we hear the budget pass… well I asking him not to do that… please repair the roads in Buxton,” she pleaded.
Last September, the Region Four APNU+AFC councillors and Gajraj were at loggerheads after he prepared and submitted a budget for the region. While the Councillors argued that Gajraj failed to inform them in a timely manner and accused him of disenfranchising residents from the process, he countered by saying that Councillors were reminded at statutory meetings throughout the area to submit proposals. Estwick’s comments on these issues appeared to catch the ministerial team off guard.
Prime Minister Phillips in a bid to cut short the Councillor’s comments said “Thank you Thank you ma’am” and on another occasion interjected “Ma’am, Ma’am” but Estwick proceeded to remind the gov’t team that she was an elected regional councillor. “Listen meh… listen I was not stopping anybody… I am now representing the people of Buxton… I have all right to represent Buxton. I am a Buxtonian, I am Regional Councillor… I have a right to represent my people, so don’t stop me…” she said as she spoke to the gathering who applauded her for championing their concerns. “The roads so bad… that I have a big hole in front of me that can turn over a car. I don’t know when dem roads gon do. Don’t talk about the Middle Street, Buxton. Middle Street all mash up… I really want allyuh to look into the roads in Buxton,” Estwick asserted.
Another resident who identified himself only as Francisco, a Sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force, also spoke of the deplorable road on which he resides. He said that the situation has become so unbearable that residents of Gopie Street have begun the process of signing a petition to seek assistance from the Neighbourhood Democratic Council and other areas to repair the roads. Another resident said she made contact with Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, and shared pictures with him on the deplorable conditions of both the roads and wooden bridges in the community. Farmers also complained bitterly of not being able to bring their produce out of their farms due to the deplorable condition of the road, which at the moment is impossible to manoeuvre on. The earthen dam, the residents said, has extended their journey to the farm by at least two hours. One farmer said his produce is ready for harvest and many of the fruits have been dropping off the trees simply because he has not been able to easily access his farm. In response to their concerns, Edghill told the community that they are aware of the state of the roads in the village and have mapped out the ones that need to be rehabilitated.
Availability of funds
He explained that road programmes are based on the availability of funds and priority ranking. “Government has to make decisions, not just by how individuals would like to have their road fixed, but Government have to make decisions for communities to ensure… equity is there,” Edghill said. He added that they are going into communities now and looking at roads that have never been paved from an earthen dam, and will soon under their development progamme look at roads that need to be upgraded. He stated that upon entering government, they have worked on priority roads, which he described as those that provide access to schools, government-owned facilities and places of worship. He added that everyone across the country has been asking for their roads to be done, and while it is President Irfaan Ali’s and his wish to be able to fix all the roads, their hands are tied due to financing and the need for development in other sectors. Nonetheless, he told the residents that he will be sending his engineers to hold consultations with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council and residents to build a portion of the farm-to-market road. “We might not be able to build for full access but we will research to see how much we can build. So once money is available we will build it so the farmers can at least have some access,” he stated.
At the start of the engagement, Edghill had disclosed that his ministry was in the process of rehabilitating roads in communities across the East Coast. “We are going to spend some $2 billion in villages along the East Coast and we have advertised and are calling for contractors. As I said before you can’t eat roads but roads can make you eat.” Moreover, he told residents that he and a delegation from his Ministry will engage small civil contractors at Tipperary Hall, Middle Walk, Buxton to assess their skillset to construct roads and bridges in the community. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday July 16. Additionally, he said that plans are in the pipelines to upgrade and rehabilitate the railway embankment thoroughfare from David Street, Kitty to Enmore. He said while the upgrade is critical for easy transportation access, it opens a number of job opportunities for people. Farmers also complained that their farms were swamped and they never received compensation resulting from the impacts of the 2021 flooding despite such an announcement by the government. Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Phillips told the farmers to ensure their names and contact numbers are on a list and they will be contacted. This announcement received applause from the entire gathering.
