Barnwell North residents to receive water for first time in over 15 years

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Dr. Richard Van West-Charles at a community meeting organized by residents of Barnwell North and Farm New Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara on Sunday December 13, addressed the concerns of residents regarding the service improvements being implemented in the communities.  

According to a release, he was joined by Chairman of the Barnwell North Farmers Group, Samuel Joyce, Executive Director of Operations, GWI, Joseph Codette, Divisional Manager East Bank Demerara, Orion Dhanraj and Asst. Divisional Manager, Laurie David.

Following concerns raised by residents about sections of Barnwell North without access to water service for more than 15 years, the GWI Chief Executive explained that the programme is being implemented in phases and within three weeks, the water distribution network will be installed in Fields two to 15. The community has in excess of 100 households.

According to the release, Dr. Van West-Charles indicated that GWI will offer a payment contract for families who may be unable to pay for the installation of the new service connections. The residents and the Chief Executive agreed to the terms of the payment contract.

‘‘Our aim is to provide for the many families in urgent need of potable water. GWI is offering a flexible payment contract so that families can afford to pay for the new service connections required to provide the community with water service.”

The release noted that the proposal was accepted with applause from residents who were advised to visit the GWI Customer Services Office at Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara to sign up for payment contracts.

Meanwhile, addressing residents of the Farm New Housing Scheme, which has in excess of 1000 households without access to water service for more than two years, Dr. Van West-Charles indicated that GWI is prepared to install new water service connections to all Farm residents, but the process is hampered by the vandalism of pipelines installed by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).