Residents of McDougal and Owen streets are enraged over what they say is shabby work being done by Courtney Benn Contracting Services (CBCS) on McDougal Street, Kitty.
According to a resident of McDougal Street, approximately eight months ago, a makeshift construction hut was built on that street and an assortment of construction equipment and materials were taken and left at the location. Upon enquiring, the resident was told that CBCS was commissioned by the government to build a concrete drain to replace the existing one.
Stabroek News has been attempting to contact CBCS for three days to solicit a response to allegations being made by the residents but was unsuccessful.
Stabroek News visited the site on September 30 and spoke to a labourer, who confirmed that CBCS was building a concrete drain to fortify the existing one.
However, according to residents, apart from the construction of the shed in the street no work took place for an entire eight-month period. “During that time, a man used to come during the day, most likely a foreman, and a guard came at night to watch the materials,” said another resident.
Work on the drain finally began about three weeks ago and residents said that the entire McDougal Street had been “ruined”.
“An excavator was brought in to dig up the drain, but I didn’t have to be an engineer to tell that the thing was way too heavy,” said one resident. “The thing end up brucking up the road and leaving it in a completely deplorable state.” According to residents, because of the damage done by the excavator, work came to a standstill and the excavator was removed. According to another resident, the excavator also pulled down the telephone line that was connected to his house, disconnecting his telephone service, and “when I show them what the excavator do, they tell me fuh call GT&T and let them look after it.” The same resident also pointed out that the road is now slanted.
As such, since then no work has been done. All of the equipment has been left on the sides of the road, while piles of sand occupy the road itself. In addition to this, road blocks have been set up at the entrance of McDougal Street, which prevents access to any form of motor vehicles, especially cars.
One resident, commenting on the quality of work being done, described it as “shabby” and unacceptable. He stated that the boards which are being used by the company are only 1.5 inches thick, adding that they are supposed to be at least 2 inches thick. In addition, he stated that the boards are supposed to be “tarred”, but only a few have been done.
Residents said that initially the road used to be closed off from about 8:30 in the mornings until 5 in the evening. However, with the combination of the road being further damaged and the materials left on it, it is now all but inaccessible. They said that individuals, out of frustration, would sometimes remove the road blocks in order to gain access to the road. “This is very dangerous, especially when it rains because the road is very, very bad,” said one resident. Those not brave enough to take that chance, have to park their vehicles elsewhere and walk to their homes.
One of the primary reasons for the residents’ outrage is that McDougal Street is the only proper entrance to Owen Street. Residents complained that the other end of Owen Street is littered with “very large, very deep potholes,” some a “few feet in diameter”. This makes it very hard for vehicles to manoeuvre the patch of road. The situation is made much worse when it rains because “the potholes are completely filled up so you have to guess where you’re driving”.
“You know how many people vehicle get damage up driving down that road,” said one resident as he pointed to damage done to his car.
The residents are calling on the relevant authorities to look into the matter and provide satisfactory results on both McDougal and Owen streets.
