– despite promises from Works Minister, contractors
Despite promises made by the government, particularly Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and contractor Komal Singh from Gaico Construction Inc, road work at Sisters Village specifically at Sawpit turn and Duncan streets has not commenced, leaving residents to resort to patching very large holes that have caused numerous accidents already, with their own resources.
“The residents are now privately filling the holes because of how tired people are with waiting on Gaico to act… The news story reported that Komal said work will start yesterday and they are nowhere out there as of today [Tuesday],” a resident who reached out to Stabroek News stated.
Some residents have begun filling the large craters on the road with cement.
The first promise was given by Edgilll when he visited the community in November along with the contractor and other Public Works Ministry officials. He also gave a second commitment in January that work would begin on January 24, after several weeks of delays and no explanations.
The third undertaking was given by the contractor last week, who said work would commence on Monday.
One resident who was seen filling holes and gave his name as Gary Cummings said, “to be honest I work at Georgetown Public Hospital as an attendant. Today is me day off. I see this causing a set of accident and so, I just want avoid the accident. Everybody seeing the hole; trucks them damaging it, nobody ain’t want make an effort to just break up some bricks and throw inside. So I just invest some of my money to get some cement and collect some donations to invest in more cement to do it better. You know how it going rough out here but still trying.”
He neither owns nor drives a motor vehicle.
“In addition to the road that Gaico can’t seem to get done, GWI [Guyana Water Inc] is also digging up the road to lay pipes for the new treatment plant in Wales… So is just dust and mud and chaos… Trucks are on the road all day everyday so whatever bad road is there they make it worse,” the resident stated. “The bridge by Patentia Housing Scheme, one month now no work has been done on this bridge, the Belle Vue Pump Station, nothing. Then there’s the speeding of the trucks.”
The Sisters Village road first came to the public’s attention in November during a live broadcast on resident August Andrew’s Facebook page. It showed a deep excavation that has since caused a significant section of the road to collapse.
In the video, an alarm was raised over the state of the road. “The contractor excavated a deep hole here, and it undermined the road. Now we had to cordon off the area because it’s too dangerous for vehicles to pass through,” Andrew said, pointing to the large hole. He pointed out the potential risks, warning, “This could have been avoided if the contractor had filled in the hole right after digging. Instead, they left it open, and now a catastrophe could have taken place.”
The next day, the Public Works Ministry held a community engagement exercise at the Stanleytown bridge to address the ongoing rehabilitation project and upgrade of the West Demerara road corridor.
On November 18, 2024, Stabroek News reported after a visit that the residents were still concerned over the road. They also stated that their businesses were not functioning as per normal as the road work was a big inconvenience. A resident even explained, “We recently spent over $300,000 to cast over the bridge and now everything is breaking apart. They dump the mud on the bridge….”
The Sisters Village road has an 18 months’ timeline and serves as a critical route for thousands of commuters travelling from the Demerara Harbour Bridge to various parts of West Bank Demerara.
