City clean-up intensifies
Desilting of canals and trenches, and clearing of parapets being done in the City, ahead of Independence celebrations on Tuesday
Desilting of canals and trenches, and clearing of parapets being done in the City, ahead of Independence celebrations on Tuesday

AS clean-up works intensify in the City, BK International is on board with equipment to assist in the desilting of the major canals and trenches in Georgetown.

Hymacs and large trucks are a part of the clean-up process along Vlissengen Road, Mandela Avenue, and Norton Street, among other city wards.

A day after President David Granger was sworn in, he and a team visited the Independence Arch on Brickdam where works began to restore it to its original state, since it was overgrown with weeds.
Works are also under way to desilt the main drainage areas in Georgetown. The project, which is being spearheaded by BK International, Stanley Ming and other contractors, was initiated by the new A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government on May 17.
According to APNU+AFC Chief Communications Officer Imran Khan, the project will target the major water ways across the capital city initially, with work commencing at Square of the Revolution, east of Brickdam and “proceeding into the heart of the city.”
Khan said the areas being targeted will include the Sussex Street canal which leads directly into the Demerara River, along with several other key drainage outfalls. The desilting is particularly important, given that Guyana is in the May/June rainy season.
Khan stated that the national Independence Arch located on Brickdam, a gift to Guyana from the then Demerara Bauxite Company in honour of Guyana’s independence, will also be rehabilitated and its surroundings improved.
However, President Granger said while the monument signals the country’s history, and even its status as an independent nation, it had been neglected over the years.
He noted that the national independence monument is one of the most important in Guyana.
“It commemorates our Independence in 1966 and we felt that the maintenance has been allowed to lapse and it has become something of a disgrace. I don’t think in the western hemisphere anybody would’ve allowed their independence monument to look the way we had it looking,” the President commented.
Plans are in place to reconstruct the base of the monument and bring it above road level. This phase of work is expected to be completed before Independence Day celebrations on May 26.

 

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