Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill on Thursday engaged vendors of the Plaisance Railway Embankment reserve about their relocation for a four-lane road project.
The meeting came after Edghill’s ministry was upbraided by Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo for issuing short notice to the vendors for relocation and not having had discussions with them.
Jagdeo made the statement at a meeting on Tuesday at the Plaisance Primary School amid scenes of unrest outside the building and concern among the vendors that structures they had occupied for decades were going to be removed without discussion of any alternative.
On Thursday, an area identified as West Road was proposed to the Minister and Vice President Jagdeo by the vendors as a suitable site for relocation. Edghill responded by saying that the location will have to be assessed first and then he would be able to say if it could be developed.
He explained that the contract for the four-lane road from Sheriff Street to Enmore and the construction of a four-lane road to Orange Nassau, Mahaica was signed a while ago. Further, the government reserve which is a part of the project layout is 40 feet from the centre line on both sides of the road. Actual construction of the road will be done several months from now.
Houses of residents that are situated in proximity of the road will be documented and surveyed to be rectified. The public works minister also informed that not only vendors are in the path of the road but also that infrastructure of the Guyana Water Inc, Guyana Power and Light, and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, will have to be removed and repositioned in a utility corridor which will be constructed.
He concluded, “Any-body who was of the view that within seven days their houses were going to be broken down, certainly that was mischievous, that has and will never happen, whether this government or any other and my technical people could tell you that the same notice that was served is not something we concocted and write up, it is the same notice that was even served 10 years ago, 15 years ago, five years ago, it is the same notice everybody get when they are on a government reserve.”
He told the vendors that an official ‘sit-down’ meeting will be held in a facility where the diagrams will be shown and the project along with its social environmental impact will be discussed.
Among other issues raised were the deplorable state of roads and access to potable water.
