Dear Editor,
When the idea of constructing the Suddie car park was conceived by Riverstown-Annandale Neighbourhood Democratic Council, and the announcement was made at a meeting of the Regional Democratic Council some time in 2007, I as a member of the RDC representing the Alliance for Change, advised the council that the proposed site for the car park which is south of the Suddie Post Office, would not suit the hire-care drivers, the minibus drivers and most important, the commuters. This is because the site is about two hundred metres from the hospital, the health centre, the drug store, the supermarket and the market, and more than three hundred metres from the high court and the magistrate’s court.
I was thinking of old people walking from the hospital to the park – people on crutches, sick people, mothers fetching groceries from the market, pregnant mothers and mothers with babies.
The ideal area would have been the vacant piece of land behind the police station which is a few metres away from the medical institutions and other main buildings aforementioned.
It was said by the senior regional officials that the police would not want to give that piece of land. I then suggested a discussion between the subject ministers, to wit, the Home Affairs and Local Government Ministers could be fruitful, because recently we had seen land belonging to the Post Office Corporation with a building thereon given to a businessman for the purpose of a restaurant, and land owned by the state with a building also, given to a businessman who now operates a drugstore, all within the hub of activities at Suddie.
For reasons best known to the powers that be, my advice was ignored, and the construction of the car park went ahead. Now the same people for whom it was built are crying out. The drivers are prosecuted for not using the park because it is not conveniently located, and the travelling public is complaining about the distance they have to walk for transportation.
Very often we hear about consultation and discussions with stakeholders and beneficiaries, but this is a classic example of where talk is cheap.
I don’t think I would ever see regional officials or their families using that car park or walking that long distance from the hospital looking for transportation. Most of them are chauffeur driven.
Yours faithfully,
Archie W Cordis
