Residents of Third Street, Burnt Bush Dam, East Canje in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) are furious at the slow pace at which their main access road is being constructed.
The project reportedly started six months ago with no signs of it being completed soon and as such, the residents are now calling for a new contractor to be assigned.
The current contractor, MRC Construction Company, however, has blamed the rainy weather for the incomplete project while referring to the residents as being illiterate when it comes to construction.
There are more than a dozen houses at Third Street, Burnt Bush Dam, East Canje, and according to the residents, the delayed road repairs has forced them to leave their vehicles in unsafe areas.
When this publication visited the area recently, newspaper vendor Manohar Bramadeen explained that the contractor is not on site regularly even though the road is left in such a state that it is almost impassable to vehicles.
“Dem picknie got to go to school and it hard for them to come out; motorbike have to sleep at people place, cars have to sleep on the road and people stealing things for you car. It is too difficult for us living in these conditions. It is between six to seven months that the contractor dig it up and leff it just like this,” he said.
In addition, Maneeta Palwan, a housewife, related that two months after digging up the street, the workers returned and “spread some sand.”
“When it get sun, you ain’t seeing him at all. It is really hard on us. In here we have about ten vehicles and all have to be on the street park up, then we getting problems with the people who we park our vehicles in front of their house – it really hard.”
However, the contractor stated that on many occasions he cannot work because residents have their vehicles parked on the street which is under construction. He provided pictures to this publication and also claimed that animals on the road have negatively impacted the ongoing work.
The project was awarded to construct a street from an existing earthen dam. The contractor claimed that more than 20 inches of soil had to be removed before construction could have commenced.
However, the inclement weather is making it difficult for them to move on to the next stage and place the crusher and run on the loam since the loam has become soggy.
Meanwhile, MRC Construction was reportedly given up June 10 to complete the project. When asked about this date, the contractor did not confirm nor deny it.
Only recently Public Works Minister Juan Edghill told contractors in Region Six that they should engage residents before commencing work so that residents know what is expected and when the project is expected to be completed. (Andrew Carmichael)
