Dear Editor,
IF what the pictorial representation on last Sunday’s Kaieteur News front page of part of the Black Bush Polder Road is true, then that named contractor did not give money for value. First to the then government which awarded the contract, and second to the Black Bush residents who were the supposed beneficiaries.

By any stretch of the imagination, US$6.6M is quite a huge sum for such a roadway, but enough for a competent and properly- executed road construction works. And, speaking from a layman’s point of view, even if there were overruns, that still should not equate to a denuded, substandard quality of finished product as shown in the pictorial.

It is abysmal, and shocking, that a high-priced constructed roadway should reflect such a deteriorated pathway in such a short period, after construction in 2012. At first glance, it would seem as if no kind of work has ever been done. On observation, too, deterioration would have had to commence almost immediately after the completed works to reflect the shamefully shocking state of a roadway for such a huge sum purportedly invested.

These are the kinds of slipshod and shoddy works that have been done by persons who would have benefitted ten-fold from PPP/C infrastructural contracts. One wonders whether the residents would not have brought such an infrastructural tragedy to the attention of their political party from their support base, and if so, what had been done.

One must also ask where were the Zamal Husseins of this world; the type of PPP/C spokespersons who constantly seek to criticise the Coalition Government for every conceivable social ill/deficiency which the PPP/C ignored during its 23 years in government, and on which the former have been effecting remedial works, in every region, since 2015. Case in point is the East Bank Berbice road.

This particular contractor, identified in the caption, should be asked to remedy this road, which is more than an insult to the taxpayers of this country, and at his personal cost. It is another graphic, tragic illustration as to what occurred under the PPP/C administration, which was aided and abetted by silence of its beneficiaries/ supporters who are now very vociferous in their criticism of the current administration, which continues to address infrastructure ll across the country.
Regards,
Aditya Panday