-President Ali tells residents, addresses several community concerns

ADDRESSING the concerns of several Campbellville residents, President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Thursday announced that works will commence within a week’s time to enhance the local drainage system.

At a community engagement at Seaforth Street, one resident noted that the community has seen ‘excellent’ transformation, but drainage woes continue to plague the community due to the lack of maintenance.

“We would like to speak about our drainage, I know that you have been doing the drainage cleaning, which is excellent sir, but for a while our drain has not been cleaned,” the woman said.

She noted that of recent, “The water never goes down, it’s always at this level and it rises up.”

Meanwhile, another resident pointed out that there has been a delay in garbage collection in the community.

“I have seen lately the garbage collection is taking longer, so the garbage accumulates.”

In response to these concerns, President Ali noted that the government will engage the city council to address the timely and proper disposal of garbage in the area.

Further, the government will erect streetlights, addressing a direct concern of safety for some residents.

“The issues that I am hearing here is the drainage, the streetlights, the koker, the garbage collection, we have to work with the city council and see what can be done,” he told residents of Seaforth Street and Campbell Avenue.

In regard to drainage, he noted that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will work closely with residents, crafting a programme that will also employ local labour.

“What we will do within the next week, we will put together a full drainage programme for the area, where we can use the local labour, but NDIA will bring in their equipment and we will fix the drainage.”

In recent weeks, President Ali has visited several communities across the country, engaging residents.

At a previous engagement, the president noted that the government is not just only making commitments but delivering on them.

“Every single day in the life of this government for the last four-plus years, I can guarantee you, without the shadow of a doubt, that either the President, the Prime Minister, the Vice-President or one member of Cabinet was in some community engaging people at the community level.

“That was a major emphasis in 2020; to build a government that is a listening government that acts on behalf of the people,” Dr. Ali had said.

At Thursday’s community engagement, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill; Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson and Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Anand Persaud were also present.