Cummings Lodge/Atlantic Ville canal still clogged after two years – Councillor

The canal at Cummings Lodge/Atlantic Ville which has been covered with overgrown weeds and bush for the past two years (Photo by Terrence Thompson)
The canal at Cummings Lodge/Atlantic Ville which has been covered with overgrown weeds and bush for the past two years (Photo by Terrence Thompson)

For two years, Councillor Andrea Marks has being asking the Georgetown City Council to clear a canal in Atlantic Ville and Cummings Lodge with no success.

On Monday, at the Council’s Statutory Meeting she raised the issue once again. This time she presented to the Council a project plan explaining why the canal needs to be cleared and how much it might cost. According to APNU+AFC councillor, this is the second time that she is submitting this plan. She explained to Stabroek News that the residents have been asking for the canal to be cleared since before the 2016 local government election, because it causes flooding, and snakes live in the overgrown bushes.

“[F]rom the time I’m in council; for two years now I’m asking for the one canal [to be cleared]…this canal I asking for is where resident and citizen paying tax, this is Cummings Lodge and Atlantic Ville. I’m asking for those trench to be cleaned. If yuh visit it now you will see how it look, it terrible and as a concern Councillor for those area I think it is right for it to clean,” Marks explained.

Town Clerk Royston King when asked why Council has not cleared the canal informed Stabroek News that it comes down to resources.

“We didn’t have, and we still don’t have, but we are working with what we have,” he said, promising that the canal will be cleared as soon as the Council’s broken excavator is fixed.