Dear Editor,
The government must give urgent, first priority to building and fixing local village roads, drains and bridges where the masses of people live versus areas with sparse populations or “nice to do” but not urgent projects such as the Lamaha Reserve project and Vlissengen Road sidewalk project. Why spend $11.8 billion on 4 miles of road at Schoonord to Crane when that money could have fixed many, many village roads? Why is that so important? I have watched videos of top leaders’ visits to communities and the number one complaint is the state of roads, drains, bridges and lack of street lights. The local environment where the people live and are hurting must be given priority for allocation of resources and project implementation.
As I have said, everywhere everything needs fixing. Both the PNC and PPP have done poorly when it comes to preventative maintenance. They operate on the basis of breakdown maintenance. The thing must “bruck” before they fix it. They have no concept of “sustainability” in all things. They are good at announcing and declaring open new projects but consistently fail at keeping things well maintained on an ongoing basis. Things are allowed to fall into disrepair by design. That allows for emergency works and more contracts. More contracts mean more money to be made. More “SU-SUs.” All NDCs have been failures in keeping anything maintained. That’s a failed, broken system and new local government elections will do nothing to fix that.
If we have to spend money fixing the same things over and over, then we rob other areas needing development. That is why although we are the richest country in Caricom, the masses have remained destitute and we have the lowest currency and lowest standard of living in CARICOM. There is poor planning, poor monitoring, and lack of a “sustainability” framework.
Announcing malls, hotels, stadiums, a new Corentyne highway or widening of the current highway should not be more urgent than fixing the village roads and bridges that people have to use daily. Fix the local roads and drains first before embarking on big “nice to do” projects that will gobble up huge resources of cash, building materials, and human capital. After six decades of Independence, our people want to see development in their own backyards and front yards. You can’t ask the people to wait.
At my Whim village, they have not dug the drains in a long, long time. You can’t tell which direction the waste water is supposed to run. It’s the same in most villages. Please concrete all our drains as is being done in Albouystown.
I thought the temporary jobs programmes would have been used to clean up the villages. Whatever happened to removing old vehicles and structures along the roadways? All talk and no action? What’s the status of the No. 63 Beach project? That beach attracts thousands of visitors during holidays.
I trust the Government will listen and “act locally, while thinking globally.” The people want improvement in their communities now! It’s our country and our wealth.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall