Dear Editor,
It has been at least three months now that works started to widen the eastern half of Sixth Street, Cummings Lodge from the Hindu Temple to the Secondary School. It must be noted this is not a normal straight street but a long winding road connection this village to Industry. Works done so far are digging along both sides of the road, sand-filling and laying stones at the top.
Editor, for the past month or so no work has been done. Residents including hundreds of schoolchildren have had to endure a lot of inconvenience as they were forced to traverse this part of the road with loose stones all around.
To add insult to injury, last Saturday I observed that similar works started on the part of the road from the Temple to UG Road. I got angry and went straight to the work site to get some information from the staff. Editor I was shocked with the answer I got. The gentleman with a Trinidadian accent explained that they had asphalted the eastern half already but the Government has not tested the area for solidity as yet. He gave the name of the Engineering Company as what sounded like Aramco.
Editor if this revelation of this site worker is accurate then it is clear that not only Contractors default on projects but the Government can be negligent of their responsibilities as well.
Editor, when you listen to the hierarchy of this Government you would want to believe that they are perfect and always put the people first but in reality and on the ground it is far from so. Look at the project to repair part of UG Road from the Railway Embankment to the Seawall that was left in a mess. Look at the new Vryheid’s Lust Primary School where no work was done to complete this building during the August Break in 2023 but soon after the resumption of classes in September works restarted resulting in students being exposed to a series of health and safety hazards. That is probably why the school was never commissioned.
Editor, there are so many instances where the Government’s incompetencies are exposed and if citizens continue to accept quantity instead of quality then monies including our hard-earned taxes we pay will continue to be wasted.
Yours faithfully,
R. Khan