Investments in roads not a vanity project, it’s part of an economic plan – VP

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday defended his party’s campaign focused on its track record in office.

“We are going to campaign on what we promised and what we did,” he highlighted during his press conference.

These include achievements in the areas of infrastructural development, healthcare, education, housing, water, energy, agriculture, and other key sectors.

He was at the time responding to social media commentators who have stated that the PPP should not campaign on investments in road projects and public services.

They have indicated that it is the government’s duty to facilitate the building of roads and provision of public services.

But Jagdeo explained “it is not automatic that a government when in office will build roads, water and expand those networks. Look at the five years under APNU… in every one of those years, the capital budget was less than 2014, on the other hand, the recurrent budget grew massively and that was to buy food and maintain vehicles and such.”

Jagdeo also pointed out that the investments by the PPP speaks of long-term development.

With regards to its investments in infrastructure, he outlined that, “it is not a road for the sake of building a road, or a vanity project, it is part of an economic plan… how they would impact real development and the same thing with the bridges we are building- 45 concrete bridges from Linden to Lethem.”

The General Secretary noted that the construction of roads contributes to the opening of new lands for residential and commercial purposes, while saving people time and money in making travelling more convenient.

“All the highways will have an impact on transit time for goods and people and if you can lower the cost of transit on the road or time it takes from point A to point B, then that is time saved and money saved,” he further explained.

Jagdeo, who is also the country’s Vice President, also alluded to the development of new lands along the Heroes Highway, the Ogle four lane road and the four lane roads constructed in Region Three and other parts of the country.

These highways coupled with the new Demerara River Bridge, he said, derisked many areas, thereby encouraging private investments.