Dear Editor,
Over a year ago, work got underway on the rehabilitation of the Kumaka-San Jose bridge and dam. To date this capital project in the Region One RDC 2013 budget is incomplete. The bridge and dam are vital for the livelihood of residents and the safe passage of patients and schoolchildren, but the haphazard manner of the works has left the dam in a slushy state, this being further exacerbated by the incessant rainfall here currently.
This project to the best of my knowledge has gone through two phases with the first phase costing $29 million and the second $15 million; these are the utterances of regional and local government ministry officials. What is evident is the sloppy and slapdash incomplete work and careless use of taxpayers’ money.
The present bridge has raw edges, and the rails look as if they belong to a cattle ranch. In addition, the slushy dam points to scant regard for human beings. No less than the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government stated that the Kumaka-San Jose bridge and dam were near completion at a press conference, as reported in the dailies.
I am calling on this same Permanent Secretary, the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, the Minister of Local Government, et al, to tell the people of Santa Rosa, Moruca why this project cannot be completed as yet.
As a human being, I find this blatant disrespect and disregard for my basic human rights unacceptable in a supposedly democratic country. Region One officials are simply disappointing, and have no bark much less a bite in this fiasco.
There has to be a way to sanction the defaulting contractors, and if the engineers are at fault they should be sanctioned too.
We have been waiting for this project to be completed and commissioned for close to one year now.
The wait continues.
Yours faithfully,
Steve La Rose
