Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill has committed to ensuring that the community of Melanie Damishana on the East Coast of Demerara gets much-needed road upgrades.
Some of the works will be done before the end of the year, and more following the passage of the 2023 national budget in the National Assembly, a release from the Ministry said yesterday.
The release said that the commitment was made during Saturday’s government outreach to the community by a team of Ministers led by Prime Minister, Mark Phillips, who is also performing the functions of President.
“My commitment is, as money becomes available for roads, all roads in Melanie will be done. We will be looking to see what can be accommodated between now and the end of the year, but certainly, in 2023 you will see lots more being done in Melanie as it relates to roads,” the Public Works Minister told those gathered.
Edghill had disclosed that out of the $13.8 billion miscellaneous budget, $2.8 billion has already been absorbed on the East Coast of Demerara.
“The approach that we have been taking for village roads is this, main roads, roads that lead to schools, places of worship and health facilities are getting number one … priority, where the masses of the people traverse, they are getting the first treatment.
Secondly, we are moving on to do roads that have never been done, because we know in some of these villages, the back street has never been done, while the front street has been done three or four times already”, he said.
Edghill noted that all measurements have already been done, with regard to Melanie’s road requirements. He reiterated that some of the roads will be done in the 2022 budget. “We will be coming out with a new wave of procurement for new roads”, he said.
The other roads, he stated, will be factored into the 2023 budget, as a direct response to the request made during the outreach.
“The agreement of roads that are being done in the various villages are largely done in consultation with the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the NDCs, so when we came into Government in 2020, we consulted with all 71 local authorities throughout the country, then we said to them, give us your priority roads where you have the problem, and based on those submissions, the Ministry of Public Works along with the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development visited and engaged (with residents), and we picked up the description and conditional surveys and we have been seeking to execute”, he said.
Edghill has also directed his technical staff to engage residents again, as they collectively map out a plan to begin road upgrades soon, the release said.
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill (centre) in discussion with residents. (Ministry of Public Works photo)
