$300M road upgrade slated for priority areas in Kwakwani

Residents of Kwakwani, in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), have been assured that the $300 million in road works slated for the community would commence soon.

They have however, been informed that priority would be given to areas that have schools and hospitals, and where there is heavy traffic of people.
Public Works Minister Bishop Juan Edghill, during a recent visit to the community, said a team of engineers had already been on the ground, and would return to finalise which roads would be rehabilitated under the budgeted sum.
“The priority that we have are the roads that are heavily used by the majority of people. For example, everybody has to go to the hospital, so the roads in the hospital must be fixed in this go-around. The secondary school and primary school (see) hundreds of children daily, and their parents have to go to those schools, so we need to make those roads a matter of priority,” the Minister said.
Minister Edghill further explained that roads that cannot be rehabilitated with asphaltic concrete would be upgraded to a crusher-run level. Project engineers on the ground have been asked to ensure that measurements for roads selected for rehabilitation be made available by Monday, June 6, 2022.
This multi-million-dollar investment demonstrates the PPP/C Administration’s commitment to improving the lives of all Guyanese, Minister Edghill has posited.
“This is historic. The PPP/C Government, in a community where they did not win, is spending more money in that community than the Government that won the last election spent in the community where they got the vote from. That is a clear case to show how our politics takes place. We are not looking at where the votes coming, we are looking at what needs to be done.
“If you add up all (that) the APNU did for five years when they were in Government, it did not make $300 million. And in one year, the PPP is spending $300 million,” Minister Edghill has said.
The mammoth investment in community roads and the decision to make some roads a priority have been welcomed by residents. Paris Archer, Councillor of the Kwakwani Neighbourhood Democratic Council, has said: “We are happy, as a community, and it is the first time that such a large sum of money has been allocated for Kwakwani in terms of internal roads.”
Vice-Chairman of the NDC, Cort Simeon, has also shared similar views. Simeon said: “Even before that was mentioned here by the Minister, we, as a council, when we heard about it, that is some of the positions we had taken: to look after the areas that are more needed, like the school area and hospital area.”
The Government will invest $1.3 billion in infrastructural development between Linden and Kwakwani. To date, the allocation is the largest the communities have received in a single year.