RESIDENTS of Ithaca have been expressing deep concern about the “misguided priorities” and slow pace of work of the contractor for the Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development (RAID) Project aback of the village since workmen arrived there in mid-January.

Some of the residents are members of the Ithaca Agricultural Land Development Coop Society on the West Bank of Berbice.

Chairman of the Society Mr Desmond Weekes said that shortly after the arrival of his workmen, the Contractor for the $148M project had gone into undertaking work that residents deemed to be unnecessary at this stage of the project.

“His workmen started off on cleaning the façade drain at the front of the village. There was no need for that drain to be cleaned now. We don’t have a drainage problem in the village. The work is in the backdam at the project site, not in front.

He said that the Coop wanted the contractor to go to the project area and drain areas that needed to be drained and clean the bushes that needed to be removed as a priority, so that people can begin to cultivate these lands as quickly as possible.

He said: “We had the devil’s own job pointing out to them that we don’t have a problem with drainage in front of the village. And even though they eventually agreed to deploy a machine into the critical area over two weeks ago, there is still no machine there to date.”

Weekes said that members of the Co-op were frustrated and annoyed by the attitude of the contractor, adding that some members feared that he might declare that he has run out money even before the most essential works had been done.

His views were echoed by Secretary of the Society Mr. Cromwell Williams who stressed that the façade where the contractor is “frizbuzzing or wasting time” with a single machine is easily and quickly drained.

“We told them we don’t have a problem with this drain. Yet they insisted on this course of action. It is non-productive since while they are working on a non-issue, we cannot plant because the real area which is in the back-dam is still heavily vegetated and poorly drained. This is where they ought to be.”

He said that during a meeting with the contractor’s representative and supervising consultants these officials had agreed to deploy a machine to the back-dam.

“That meeting was on February 4th; to date February 13th nothing has happened. We are totally dissatisfied. We plan to take our complaints to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and to take further action if we don’t see some serious positive movements on this project very soon,” he said.

H. NAUTH and Sons General Engineering Contractors had won the $148M contract for constructing drains, canals, access dams and hydraulic structures for the Rural Agricultural Infrastructural Development project (RAID) aback Ithaca, West Bank Berbice.

Residents of the community expect to benefit from new drainage and irrigation infrastructure, plus land-preparation equipment and technical advice which will help to boost agricultural production on 900 acres of hitherto unproductive land and improve livelihoods in the village.

The opening up of unused fertile lands aback Ithaca is being made possible under a loan granted to the Government of Guyana by the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF).

Buxton, Triumph and Mocha villages are the three small-scale farming communities in Region Four which will benefit from similar D&I systems and agricultural support under the scheme.

Efforts to make contact with the contractor, the Supervising Consultant and relevant officials of the Ministry of Agriculture for a comment on the developing controversy at Ithaca proved futile.