WORK on Hunter Street appears to finally be winding down as the contractor has begun to cap the road with asphalt. Residents are overjoyed and are breathing sighs of relief that the project is almost complete. Initially scheduled to take seven months to complete when the contract was signed in 2019, delays and a change of contractor have seen the road being under construction for some two years now. “They really tek lil long but you still glad that the road do, and it still come through alright,” commented Indira Narine, a resident who has been living on the street for 11 years. Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday, she shared that when the construction was stalled, residents were greatly affected as the road was left in a deplorable state for months, even as motorists continued to use it.
“The road used to have a lot of holes and all of that, so vehicles used to drive til in the corner. Sometimes we used to be sitting down in front [of the yard] and when they drive in the hole with the water it used to pitch straight on you, but now the road look very good, real nice,” she commented.

She added: “I have my sister-in-law here with her small children going to ‘West’ [Rumiveldt Primary] and she used to had to frighten for them with them vehicles, because of how they used to have to drive til in the corner.” With the road almost complete, residents are now concerned that motorists may abuse it by speeding. They are therefore calling for speed bumps to be placed on the new roadway, given that a number of schools are located nearby. “The 47 buses which use this road are kind of crazy, and the road is broad now, but we have two schools in this area, so we need those guys to take their time on the road because of the children. We don’t want anything to happen to them because of the speed,” father of three, Johnny Gangadin, told the Guyana Chronicle in an invited comment.
Gangadin noted that he has two children who attend the West Rumiveldt Primary school and expressed the hope that the improvement of the roadway does not bring with it new problems for residents. He said he is happy that the roadway is finally being improved as its previous state posed many difficulties for him in getting his children to school.

“It used to be really inconvenience to me and my kids; especially when it rains it was really terrible. This road was in a very bad state for a long time and what the guys [contractors] are doing now it’s looking very nice. It’s also beautifying the country because it looks nice,” Gangadin said.
Works on the street are currently being carried out by contractor, Veira Logistics 66, which was awarded a $100 million contract to complete the street after the original contractor, Surrey Paving and Ideal Engineering, had abandoned works and left the roadway in a deplorable state, in 2020.
The works are being done on the section of the street that stretches from West Ruimveldt Front Road to Mandela Avenue. That section was closed in January, shortly after road works recommenced. Seventy-one-year old Nurlene Bess, who says she uses the roadway every weekend, said at one point the road was such an inconvenience to her. She said she started praying over the road in the hope that it would speed up the process of getting it done.

“In my mind when I walking every morning, I say ‘Dear Lord we’re poor and we’re glad for the little help’, and to me since I talk things start changing. When I come and I see the thing throw out, I said ‘Thank you Jesus’,” she related.
Hunter Street is one of a few alternative routes connecting East Bank Demerara to the city, and therefore has become a major road for many commuters looking to avoid the heavy East Bank-bound traffic. Drivers traversing the street and residents had continually said that the state of the road was seriously affecting them.
A lot of remedial work had to be carried out when the Veira Logistics 66 took over the project. The new company had noted that it had an uphill task of rectifying several defective works that were done by the previous contractor, including the removal and replacement of the sand filling.