–President Ali affirms

LEAVING no inch of Guyana out of the massive developmental plan, and always staying engaged with the people, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has yet again echoed his commitment to bettering the lives of all Guyanese.
This time around, he answered the call of residents of Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD), who were facing a few challenges.
During an impromptu visit to the community on Monday, President Ali addressed a number of issues, ranging from drainage to littering.

As he interacted with residents one-by-one in order to understand what was bothering them, he unearthed massive drainage issues within the community. As a result, he told his skilled team what course of action they should take to give Eccles a facelift.

The residents, however, did not hesitate to warmly welcome President Ali, who took the time to listen to their concerns before he shared his message of the government’s eagerness to work with them to find long-term solutions to the issues that plague their community.
Disappointed with the state of the community, the president told residents that imminent works are on the cards to not only better drainage within the community but also clean up the excessive amount of garbage littering the streets.

“We got to start this work by Friday,” the president said out loud, while urging the councillors within the community to get their act together.
“I’m concerned with the whole of Eccles. The drainage situation, I think it’s ridiculous; we have to deal with it,” the Head of State said.
Dr. Ali said that while a community can be gifted with state-of-the-art developmental works, residents, too, have a responsibility to maintain these initiatives.

“You have a lot of irresponsibility from residents themselves. You know, development has to involve everyone; everyone has to take responsibility. You can’t be dumping old cars in the drains; you can’t be destroying reserves,” he said, while highlighting that responsibility lies on everyone’s shoulders.
Also accompanying the Head of State were Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame McCoy; Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha; and Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar.

Just last month, Dr. Ali made several visits to various communities. For instance, some of these impromptu visits were to the Kingston community and the Alberttown/Queenstown areas.
While addressing the residents, President Ali expounded on the scope of work to be done within the area, and pressed for youth involvement in these projects.

With regard to drainage and irrigation, road works and security, the Head of State gave his commitment that the community will see brighter days. He told the residents that works will commence in the next 12 days.
As a result of this visit, the Special Projects Unit of the Ministry of Public Works completed road rehabilitation works (paving) at New Garden Street, Georgetown, between Lamaha and Church Streets.