SOME 100 community roads along the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) corridor are set to be rehabilitated, according to the Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill.

The Public Works Minister, on Tuesday, visited several communities on the East Bank, inspecting projects under the Ministry’s 2023 Miscellaneous Road Programme.

According to a post on the Minister’s Facebook page, he visited Rahaman’s Park, Eccles, Mocha, Garden of Eden, Providence and Coverden, where works are set to start in some of these communities soon.

Apart from the miscellaneous work schedule, some of these projects are from commitments made by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali and Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo during recent community meetings.

“We are getting ready to programme for about a 100 roads on the East Bank of Demerara,” Minister Edghill said.

The Minister said that he is interacting with communities to ensure that he is directly aware of the kind of interventions needed and the urgency of these interventions.

Last Saturday, Minister Edghill during his walkabout in Sophia, Georgetown said that some 30 roads are set to be rehabilitated in the community.

The minister began a rigorous exercise of road assessments in ‘B’ and ‘C’ Fields, Sophia, where he announced that works will soon begin on several roads there.

“What we are looking to do is to ensure that wherever we are making investments; wherever we are building roads that they are high-impact, and people will benefit from the intervention. We have to be able to answer to the real needs of people,” the minister explained.

“We have to do this in every region to ensure that we continue to see what is done, and where the gaps are to ensure that we are getting the correct assessments, so that when we proceed with our allocations and expenditure for this year, we are getting the required results,” he added.

Further, the public works minister emphasised the importance of placing focus on community roads, as they directly impact the lives of residents.

“We’ve been looking at the big highways and the major billion-dollar projects, but these community streets are really what matters to people, because when they come off the highway and they turn off to go into their villages, they want to be able to drive on the road, and get there safely, and in comfort,” Minister Edghill underscored.

In March 2023, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, during visits to several ongoing infrastructure projects in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), with President Ali, disclosed that 1,085 roads were being constructed on the coastland.

“From the standpoint of the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Housing and Water and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development; the entire coastline, we have 1,085 roads under construction,” he said.

Minister Indar had noted that this was just since the beginning of the year and related that there are more roads to be constructed.

The government has advanced plans to upgrade several major roads across Georgetown as part of its overarching objective to transform Guyana’s infrastructural landscape significantly.