– thanks to intervention of Min. of Natural Resources

THE Upper Demerara community of Kwakwani continues to benefit from enhancement and upgrading projects through the timely intervention of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
With the condition of the internal roads being a sore point and a major complaint with residents, given that theirs is a logging community, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman has answered the call of the area’s Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) to have the one-mile stretch of main access road from the Kwakwani Waterfront to the Kwakwani Park rehabilitated.

Many residents in the Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) community have since voiced their satisfaction with the positive response they’ve had from the ministry. Cort Simeon explained that while repairing the road may seem like a small gesture to many, for residents of Kwakwani like himself, it is a big deal, since the livelihood of many depends on the condition it’s in. With a deplorable road, it means that those that are into logging have to spend more money to have their logs transported, and those who own the trucks have to spend more on servicing and the purchasing of parts.

Regional Vice-Chairman Elroy Adolph says that the community is very grateful for the upgrades, since the NDC is not in possession of a grader or other equipment to carry out the kind of works that needed to be done. “These forms of development not only on the coastland but the hinterland show that the government cares, and while they may not be able to fulfill all the promises,” he said, “we can be assured that some are being fulfilled to make our lives easier.”

In addition to effecting repairs to the internal roads in Kwakwani, the Linden to Kwakwani Trail is also being upgraded by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Extensive works were done on the road last year, but because some damage was done during the recent rainy season, the MoNR does not want the situation to regress to the deplorable state it was in in the past.

Meanwhile, the MoNR said this is the first time contracts to rehabilitate additional roadways around the country that are predominantly traversed by loggers were awarded to the very loggers themselves. The roads that were approved for rehabilitation were Armeu Road, which was awarded to Bhola Sawmill; the Itaballi to Puruni Road, which was awarded to Toolsie Persaud Limited; Uname Road, done by Variety Woods and Greenheart Ltd; and the Bissaruni Road, by R. Razaek Business Enterprise.

The small concessions that have directly benefitted from the rehabilitation of the roads are those whose production by quota in 2019 were between 41% to 71%.
This shows that these road rehabilitation contracts positively impacted the production of small miners.