The Ministry of Public Works should be applauded for issuing an ultimatum to businesses to remove trucks and trailers on the city’s roadways.
Let us pray it is not more empty rhetoric. After all, Minister Edghill pledged to take similar action back in June 2022. Outcome? Zero.
This press release on Tuesday cited Sheriff Street and Mandela Avenue in particular noting that it is an offence under the Road Act of the Laws of Guyana, Chapter 51:01, to encumber roadways and road reserves. It also issued photographs of said trucks and the ubiquitous trailers that litter many parts of the city. “The Ministry of Public Works hereby states that all such encumbrances on roadways and road reserves must be removed with immediate effect. Failure to comply will result in the Ministry utilizing all appropriate measures to have those encumbrances removed and charges administered in accordance with Chapter 51:01 of the Road Act of the Laws of Guyana.”
As previously editorialised in November 2022, this squatting of trucks and trailers is a multiplying development related in part to the oil sector and tangential activities that is both dangerous and plain ugly. There are in fact several other areas where the infestation of trailers can be seen littering the roadways each night. Prime spots include almost all of Water St and the various cross roads between that and Main St; High St in the vicinity of Drysdale and Princes Sts; the small connector road in the Meadowbank area near National Hardware; and along the road running next to the Massy Complex. These trailers are clearly connected to nearby shipping terminals and it would take little to identify the owners, call them up and have them removed. It is just one of those infernally frustrating phenomena in Guyana, that appears simple to resolve but yet persists.
Even areas where no industrial activity occurs are under siege including Middle St, just a stone’s throw from State House, where the parapets have yet to be repaired by an identified trucking company which parked trailers on them during the rainy season.
This is symptomatic of the fevered zeitgeist we are currently living under, that puts the mighty petro-dollar and the prioritisation of the business class over the rights of citizens to safe and clean surroundings. And it is not confined to vehicles. At Houston, a tile depot happily blocks the sidewalk with its debris, while a nearby hardware store uses the roadway and the reserve to park containers. A drive from the airport is probably the most dismaying experience with scrap metal merchants among others leaving tangled messes outside their premises. Yes, tourists and investors must be alarmed at the squalor but in fact it is more important we keep our house clean for ourselves first.
The current situation also shows the government’s lack of regard for the welfare of Georgetowners. The same Minister Edghill has rammed a four-lane through Le Repentir Cemetery/Jungle, so close to the graves that you can read the names of the deceased as you drive by. Poor Mrs Codrington who died in 2008 aged 83.
There is also another side effect of all these activities being conducted in the city’s centre. Pollution. One may think one is living in a healthy environment with all the fresh sea breezes. Think again. The EPA’s own air monitor shows that Georgetown as of Wednesday had a particulate matter level of 44 micrograms (10-6 grams) of pollutant per one cubic metre of air. This is 8.8 times the WHO guideline. Such levels, the WHO warns, are dangerous to asthmatics and others with breathing difficulties who should wear face masks, while outdoor exercise is not advisable. Certainly this pollution is caused by the increasing traffic in the city, the sand, cement and aggregate being transported in and out of downtown, and most likely by the Kingstown Power Station which emits noxious smoke daily, smothering the city.
The choice is clear. Either we abandon our capital to the businessmen to create a rent free parking lot for themselves or we put regulations in place to restrict their activity. A historic downtown zone could be created around State House and the St George’s Cathedral stretching into Kingston that would bar all heavy duty trucks except with permission.
As for the rest of the country. Why not start with a rating system for each village or township? Each would be assessed annually by a traveling committee based on cleanliness, care of private and public buildings and land, and given recommendations on what could be improved. Nothing coercive but also something public. Then perhaps we could go on to have competitions for the best kept villages including those who plant flowers and trees. A bit too wishful? Well what is going on right now is not working. We live in a country of increasing private wealth and public squalor. Anything will be better than what we currently have. Now over to Minister Edghill to put his words into action.
