President commits $250M for Kaneville
Roads, bridges, drainage structures to be undertaken
By Renu Raghubir
CABINET will approve $250M for the construction of roads, bridges, drains and drainage structures in Kaneville Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara, paving the way for the transformation of the community into a township.

President Bharrat Jagdeo made the announcement yesterday, when he met residents of the community at Grove Primary School, after a walkabout in Peters Hall/Providence and Herstelling, also on the East Bank.

He said phase one of the works, which includes the building of 15 secondary drains, four primary drains, 41 culverts, one concrete bridge and all the roads in the community, will start early next year and is expected to be finished by mid-year.

The Head of State declared also that Government will procure and secure $2.1B for additional housing drives in other nearby villages. He added that US$40 million in loans and grants have been obtained for the regularising of housing in Guyana.

Speaking on electricity, Jagdeo told the gathering of more than 300 hundred Kaneville residents, that government will be implementing an Unserved Areas Electrification Programme by the first quarter of 2005.

Under this programme, residents will be required to pay a beneficiary contribution of $10,000. The remaining costs will be borne by the Government.

The President revealed that plans are on stream to build a road from Diamond to Georgetown, as well as a police station in the Diamond/Grove area to grapple with the recent spate of robberies and other crimes in the villages.

"One decade ago, the foreign debt was US $2.1B, 90 per cent of the taxes had to go towards paying that debt and 20 per cent was for the public servants. Our country was bankrupt, but today, $1.1B has been paid back."

“Even if Government was to borrow $1B, our debt would be less than one decade ago,” President Jagdeo said.

Addressing water concerns of the residents, President Jagdeo said government puts in a high subsidy to ensure water rates are kept low. He reiterated that the water distribution network in the area is very poor, and as such a Water Supply Improvement Project will be undertaken.

"Once all this is done; the stadium, police station and secondary school, which we are also planning to build, the East Bank Demerara will become very urbanised and overtake the other towns, being second in size to Georgetown," he reiterated.

Minister of Housing and Water, Shaik Baksh who was also present, related that Kaneville is one of the largest settlement squatting areas in Guyana with a very complicated drainage system. This, he stated, will be rectified, since the poor water supply reaching residents was unacceptable.

"We are giving the water company two weeks to come up with a solution and if they can't, then the Ministry of Housing will drill a well in the area," he promised.

He said there are 1,089 house lots in the area, of which 721 have been approved. 181 are being processed. Forty-three titles are ready for distribution.

Kaneville Squatting Area is a part of Plantation Golden Grove, which became a squatting area in 1993, when persons began clearing and occupying lands because of the need for their own homes.

The lands in the area were purchased from GUYSUCO under the Regularisation Programme of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, which will overseer the contractors as they conduct works.

In Peters Hall/Providence area, the main concern raised by residents waste for the upgrading of roads, particularly as a diversion for traffic until the main road is completed.

A second complaint was poor waste management as a result of some residents dumping garbage on the road side.

In Herstelling, residents complained about similar problems.

After visiting the sole health centre in that community, which has one doctor who operates twice per month, President Jagdeo promised that a maintenance budget will be allocated, to take the health centre out of the present deplorable condition.

President Jagdeo also met several senior citizens, who complained about high water rates and pension-related issues. He promised to look into their problems.

Among the other officials present were Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, Minister of Agriculture (ag) Satyadeow Sawh, Minister of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Bibi Shadick, Minister of Public Service, Dr. Jennifer Westford, Chairman of the Agricola/Providence Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Ashok Kumar, and Acting Chairman of the Diamond/Herstelling NDC, Zamena Sookdeo.

Sunday, November 21, 2004