Even as residents on the Essequibo River islands of Wakenaam and Leguan hold out that the construction of airstrips will be of no real benefit to them, plans for the projects are going ahead as the bidding process for Wakenaam has begun.
In an advertisement which appeared in yesterday’s issue of the Sunday Stabroek, the Ministry of Public Works and Communication has invited bids from eligible bidders to undertake the project. According to the ad, bidding for the project will be conducted through the National Competitive Bidding procedures in accordance with the Procurement Act 2003. It is unclear if the advertisement appeared in other media before last weekend but prospective bidders have only up to December 28, 2009.
Region Three Chairman Julius Faerber in a telephone interview with Stabroek News in October said that officials within the Public Works Ministry and the owners of the lands had been discussing the proposed project.
At the time he could not give an estimate as to when actual work on the airstrips would commence and noted that the lands earmarked for the project at Wakenaam as well as neighbouring Leguan, are capable of holding the length of the intended airstrips. Some $184M was set aside in this year’s budget for the construction of airstrips on the two Essequibo River islands.
A resident of Wakenaam told Stabroek News yesterday that the airstrip will be constructed on the eastern side of the island, in the vicinity of the village of Meer-Zorg. He said that the officials from the Public Works Ministry were on the island last week and they carried out survey work for the intended project.
According to the man, the previous administration had also made plans to construct an airstrip at Wakenaam but those plans never materialized since the planning parties involved at the time could not see the project serving its purpose. Another resident told Stabroek News yesterday that the islanders are “still trying to understand the reasoning” behind the project.
Stabroek News visited the island in March this year and spoke to residents about the project, and most of them stated at the time, that the administration should invest money in other aspects of development on the island, including the island’s sea defence and other aspects of infrastructural development, instead of an airstrip.
They listed the high rate of unemployment, fragile sea defence, the development of the island’s agricultural potential as well as the need for a water treatment plant as priorities which needed to be addressed.
