–says MPW after recent inspection

THE Ministry of Public Works (MPW) has said that the emergency works underway to fix a one mile stretch of the Bartica/Issano Road in Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) is 25 percent completed.

MPW noted in a press statement sent to this publication that with regard to the project which commenced on July 14, 2014, the engineer overseeing the project, Mr. Lawrence Mentis; MPW’s hinterland engineer Mr. Naeem

Mohamed; and its Maintenance Supervisor, Mr. Lloyd Rollins, inspected the progress of the project on Thursday, July 23, 2014, and found it 25% completed.

Mentis related that “$25M approved in the Ministry’s 2014 budget is being utilised to carry out the rehabilitation works. The Force Account Unit within the Ministry is executing the project.”

It was also noted that the most impassable section of the five-mile-long road is being fixed partly with concrete/asphalt and partly with coal mix, and that the MPW is seeking funding from Central Government to repair other sections of the heavily trafficked thoroughfare.

Mr. Keith Blair, Chairman of the Bartica Branch of the United Minibus Union, is quite pleased with the project. “The progress is encouraging,” he said. “I speak for myself and the community (that) we are very happy with what is going on.”

Under the Hinterland Road Rehabilitation programme, the MPW has set aside $1.08B to repair roads countrywide.

(By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally)