Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal has announced that residents of Timehri North, Linden/Soesdyke Highway, will have access to potable water in two weeks’ time.
This pledge was made on Thursday to the residents of a community known as Camp Madewini, which is bounded by the Jubilee Resort, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, South Dakota Circuit and Yarrowkabra, after they reached out to his Ministry, by way of a letter, seeking his intervention to enable the community to have access to potable water.
In the letter sent to the Ministry and which was seen by this newspaper, the residents complained that access to potable water for the community has been neglected by successive governments for decades. Even though the previous Managing Director of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Richard Van West-Charles, had promised that community would have access to potable water, the project started but was never completed. The letter says “approximately five year ago, the then head of GWI Mr Van West-Charles held a meeting with the residents of this catchment area with a viewing of bringing relief to the residents by the end of that year.” However, nothing was done until 2019 when some progress was made.
“There was mobilization of equipment and the drilling of a well was started at the north-east outer perimeter of the Madewini Youth Camp. Water was reached at 250 feet. Our final update from the drilling team before they left, was that they were going to come, test the quality, install the necessary pump and run the pipelines to complete the project. Since the departure of the drilling team, a number of wells have been started and completed across the country, while this project has remained at a standstill and the residents continue to struggle,” the letter further stated. Because the project was abandoned, the residents have had to continue being resourceful and they have been purchasing water and relying on rain collection to satisfy their daily needs.
Croal told this newspaper that he visited the community after receiving the letter and was able to gain a better understanding of the situation. He said that an assessment of the works needed was done and he was able to assure the residents that all possibilities will be explored to ensure that they have access to potable water. He also committed to sending a technical team to visit the site to assess what’s needed to complete the well. “We did some diligence and we checked, so we committed that we will have the well completed within two weeks”, the Minister assured.
He added that the residents have requested that the water be piped even further so it could reach persons living out of the perimeter, but he said he could not commit to this happening until the work is completed and he is able “to see the output of that well to know how far it can reach.”
