MINISTER within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, has assured village representatives of Region Nine that road works being undertaken by the government will be closely monitored to ensure quality.

Village leaders expressed their concerns about the quality of road work executed by the previous coalition administration in the region, during a recent engagement with Minister Indar.

“The contract that they had was a grade and shape contract, so all they were doing was grading and shaping; so you keep grading and shaping, you keep taking off the top. What happens after that? You’re left with nothing, that is what the previous government did,” Minister Indar said.
A contract was recently signed between the Ministry of Public Works and Jr. Ranch Inc. for works on the same stretch of road.

“We put in that 39,000 metres cube of laterite to be placed, so they have to put laterite and other materials and then grade and shape, so you build up back the road,” Minister Indar said.

A committee was recently formed in the region to closely monitor all road projects. The unit is chaired by the Regional Executive Officer (REO) Karl Singh, and includes representatives of the Ministry of Public Works, the town council, and the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In response to a suggestion that road works be given to Brazilian contractors, the minister noted that this would not be fair to locals.

“In Region Nine, the business community and the contractors that pay taxes in Guyana would take umbrage to that because they have been doing the work… the only thing we have to ensure is that we up our monitoring capabilities,” Minister Indar noted.

He added: “I believe the problem can be remedied that way, rather than outsource it to a foreign company… simple things that we can do in Guyana.”

A contract was also signed for upgrades to the St. Ignatius Road. The Toshaos took the opportunity to raise several issues pertaining to village roads, bridges, culverts, airstrips and other works in the region.

The concerns were noted and the minister promised to do follow up visits. An engineer will visit several areas to make assessments of the works needed, after which representation will be made for it to be included in Budget 2022.

(DPI)