Declining their request for a road opposite the conservancy, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill has told residents of Canal No. 2 Polder, West Bank Demerara that government has no intention of feuding with residents over the placement of infrastructure in the community.
According to a Ministry of Public Works release on Thursday, the minister was responding to a request submitted by the residents, for the construction of an access road opposite the Conservancy Dam. He recommended that residents meet again and discuss among themselves, their current road situation, to come up with a plan that everyone is in favour of, and once it is deemed doable, government will facilitate it.
At a meeting with the Canal No. 2 Farming Group at his Kingston, Georgetown office last week, a petition with approximately 60 signatures was presented to the minister, along with an older list of signatures requesting construction of the same road. As a condition for agreeing to a meeting, Edghill requested that the signatories, as well as other members of the community, be present at the meeting, at a time and place to be decided by the residents.
However, less than 20 per cent of the signatories showed up for the meeting.
In an effort to get a better understanding of the physical layout of the area, Edghill walked the 1,850 meters of the conservancy dam, after which he spoke with residents about their initial access road request.
“The report that you brought to me is that you would like to have a road so you could get access to your property, I have walked the distance that the 81 children, as well as the old people, got to walk on this Conservancy Dam, we cannot build a road on the Conservancy Dam because if you put weight on that Conservancy Dam and it collapses, everybody will be flooded.”
“Second request is that you build a road after this drain [drain that separates the conservancy dam from the first line of houses]. I have walked the full dam and we got at least 25 houses that if you attempt to build a road, I’m not talking about a strip, if you intend to build a road from this drain going back, there are 25 houses that will have to be moved,” Minister Edghill noted.
He made it clear that government will not go into the community and try to pick a fight with 25 families to remove them from their homes when there are other alternatives for a road.
“If we don’t build a road and we attempt to build a walkway we still have about eight properties according to my count. We have come through the back, we have gone to the plan that is available to us, there is a government reserve that is clear, and people are actually using that government reserve. I deliberately came out with that ‘canter’ because nobody can tell me vehicles can’t pass because I drove in the ‘canter’ quarter way to come out, motorcycle and everything are going down in there,” the minister was quoted as saying.
However, despite the minister’s explanation, some of the residents gathered remained adamant and persisted with their calls for a road opposite the Conservancy Dam to be built, opposing the alternative plan outlined by the Minister and his team. However, Edghill repeated that there were too many encumbrances for a road to be built opposite the conservancy dam.
He noted that it was not practical and posed a threat being that close to the Conservancy Dam. Furthermore, government would need special approval from the Boerasirie Water Conservancy to construct a road in such proximity to the Conservancy Dam.
“I will tell you what Government will not do, Government will not participate in any family feud, I am making that very clear, Government will not participate in any family feud, anybody who fighting over land, brother and sister, inheritance, and so on, Government will leave people to that.
“I will leave here this afternoon and y’all sit down and decide what y’all want. I will tell you upfront, Government will not come in here and fight brother and sister and cousin problems, government will not come in here and try to pick a fight with 25 families to move from their homes when there is another clear access which everybody can use.”
Edghill also told residents that this situation can be corrected, however, it would take everyone to think logically and with the future in mind, the release added.
