By Ravin Singh

THEY have a plan; and revealing what their individual plans for their constituencies are, candidates of Team Benschop who are contesting the upcoming Local Government Elections seems to be placing drainage, security and recreational facilities high on their agenda, once elected to office.This was first revealed by youth candidate Royston Alkins, who is contesting the First-Past-the-Post aspect of the elections to vie for Constituency 12, North Ruimveldt/Guyhoc-Lamaha.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle following the official launch of the group’s manifesto on Friday, Alkins explained that one of the more pressing issues in almost every community in Central Georgetown is the issue of flooding due to poor drainage.

And for the areas South and North Ruimveldt, it is no different.
“We know about the flooding issue in South; ever time it rains the area floods,” he said.

And while community development demands that attention be placed on this issue, he noted that in the long run it could be a tedious task because of the complexity of the drainage system in Georgetown.

Guyana’s drainage system consists of secondary and primary drains, the latter of which generally discharge water into the rivers or the ocean through sluices.
However, many primary drains do not drain directly into the ocean or river, but into a facade drainage canal running parallel to the coastline, which in turn drains into the ocean or river through a sluice. Drainage and irrigation for the whole area is therefore dependent on the effective management of the network.

And due to the complexity of this network, the youth candidate explained, cleaning within the constituency alone is not enough, given that Georgetown has 14 different outflows.

“If you clean up in one area and you don’t clean the 14 outflows, then you’re really not doing anything. So if we could clean the area and the outflows simultaneously, then that would tackle the issue holistically,” Alkins said.

A ‘REAL’ PROBLEM
And this view was supported by Georgiana Lewis, a Team Benschop candidate running for Constituency 15 – Meadowbank to Agricola. According to her, this has been an issue which has tremendously affected Guyanese from all walks of life over the years.

“Poor drainage results in flooding when there is heavy and/or consistent rainfall. And once the water rises to an unexpected height, persons who live in bottom flats and those who own small shops are forced to count their losses due to damage done to their properties and goods,” Lewis related.

Last year, it was announced by Minister of Public Infrastructure that Netherlands had offered to help improve the country’s drainage system amid bouts of heavy flooding. Guyana is a former Dutch colony, and its drainage system had been designed by the Dutch during colonisation.

Mandated to study the drainage system and recommend improvements in the latter part of last year, a three-man Dutch Risk Reduction (DRR) Team presented its recommendations on the way forward for Guyana.

Alkins then explored the second issue, which he was keen to note is not less important than the other two; that issue being security.

NEED FOR STREET LIGHTS
According to him, one of the greatest risks residents face at nights is being robbed on their way home from work or school. And while most residential and community-based areas have been starved of street lights, he offered that street lighting could significantly reduce the risk of people being robbed.

“There is not enough light in that area, and it’s not safe for people. Some of them get robbed very often,” he said, acknowledging that this is not an inexpensive undertaking. In fact, he reasoned that security demands strategic allocation of funds.

And this remains a long-term plan he said, adding: “I don’t want to give a timeframe because some of these projects will be in the long term.

“I am sure, however, that these can be done within the three-year lifespan of the council. We want to focus on consultation and action, not just sitting in office and being passive,” young Alkins said.

Similar sentiments were again expressed by Lewis, who lamented that the lack of street lighting creates a “home for bandits”. And given this situation, she noted that residents who should have free access to and from their destinations are stripped of their rights to freely move around, due to fear.

“Residents are not safe, and they are of the belief that they are forgotten,” she said passionately.

The third issue which, according to the duo, needs immediate attention is provision of recreational facilities, which are deemed to be a thing of the past.
Alkins, a cricketer, spoke extensively on this, arguing that there are parks in and around the city that should have been in operation but have been covered by bushes.

And having done his research, he was able to relate that the Georgetown City Hall has a mandate to ensure that every constituency has a playpark.

To combat this restriction to access to these facilities due to overgrown bushes, he stated, there needs to be a reallocation of resources to rehabilitate some of these parks.

“If this is done, it would be really beneficial to everyone in the community, particularly youths,” he added.

Lewis couldn’t agree more. She weighed in, offering that where there are inoperable facilities in some communities, there is none in others.
“In Meadowbank there is a nice field but it is full of grass, and recently I saw children playing there, and I was so touched by that. I thought to myself that, if I was elected, that would be one of the first issues that I would address,” she said.

But not limited to recreational facilities, she explained that there is need for a resource centre to help to train persons who might not be academically inclined but are skilled in other trades, such as electrical work or barbering.

“The idea is to develop the community and the people, whether through youths, women, or even men,” she said.