The Ministry of Public Works yesterday disputed the claims made by a letter writer, C Woolford in the February 21 edition of Stabroek News under the heading `New road at Cornelia Ida Sea View has made our lives a daily struggle’.
In the letter, Woolford had said “A road contractor came in our area and started making our road. Previously, we had a 12 feet wide chip seal road and 7 feet parapets on both sides. Our parapets were the same height with our bridges and the road was about a mere 2 inches higher. Editor, we lived comfortably with that and 2 vehicles could pass each. We also could have temporarily parked on the parapets during the day.
“The new road that was built is only 10 feet wide and is now 16 inches higher than the parapet and bridges. This created a slope that is too slant and can topple our vehicles. If one vehicle is on the road now, no other can pass. I tried getting on to the engineer at Den Amstel WCD office to lodge a complaint but no success. I tried calling the Ministry of Public Works but got the royal calling around. This new road has made our lives a daily struggle to get in and out. We are asking the Minister of Public Works do something for us so our lives could return to normal”.
The Ministry said in a statement that Woolford falsely stated in his letter that the road had a width of 12 feet prior to the execution of the construction project.
“Please note the Ministry of Public Works built the road 10ft wide- the same width of the road prior to construction. The concrete was poured on February 17, 2024 and it requires 28 days to cure according to established guidelines”, it said.
The Ministry said it is also disappointed that the author made false statements about the space available to park on the parapet.
“In fact, Mr. Woolford had approached the contractor to execute special works on the parapet in front of his property, but was rejected. The author seems dissatisfied with the contractor’s refusal to grant preferential treatment outside of the project scope”, the statement said.
The Ministry said it is also disturbed that the author inaccurately described his communication with its staff. It said that Woolford omitted in his letter that he had met with the Ministry’s engineer that oversees the project and was privy to explanations from the official on the project scope. Claims of being stonewalled by the Ministry are categorically false, it said.
It added that Minister in the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar visited the project site yesterday to inspect the completed works.
The ministry’s statement did not address Woolford’s assertion that the road is 16 inches higher than the parapet and bridges.
