Almost 1000 contracts awarded for citywide drainage & desilting works

…citizens urged to report poor-quality operations

The Public Works Ministry has awarded almost 1000 contracts to improve drainage in the capital city, with the subject Minister, Juan Edghill, urging citizens to report instances of poor-quality works.
In a live broadcast on Wednesday, Minister Edghill said, “A number of persons have been calling me and complaining about the quality of work that is being done by those contractors and expressing dissatisfaction.”

He is encouraging citizens to file complaints via a hotline – 624-2964.
“When you call the hotline or you send a text message to the hotline, all you need to do is to pin the location so that I can have the engineers who are overseeing this project go there and inspect and ensure that the work is being done properly,” the Minister explained.
He emphasised that contractors will not be paid if the job is not done in accordance with the terms and provisions of their contracts, noting that “we are stepping up monitoring and we want to ensure value for money.”
During the live broadcast, Edghill used the opportunity to help citizens understand the scope of works the contractors are required to undertake so they would be aware when shoddy operations are being conducted.
“Provide for desilting of the drains by removing, whether it’s manual or by machine – manual means the use of buckets; mechanical means the use of an excavator – all existing silt, slush and debris and vegetation, inclusive of clearing on the bridges and cleaning of culverts as directed by the engineer,” the Minister outlined.
“Let me make it clear: these contracts are not for people just to come and weed the road edge, dip a couple buckets of slush and move on. This is not going to be a fast and nasty operation,” he added.
Additionally, he explained that all the alleyways and drains need to be cleaned in their lot, and all the existing slush, debris and vegetation, when it is removed from the drains, must be placed in a truck and carted away. It can’t be, taking it out the drain and putting it on the shoulder. The contract stipulates it must be carted away, trucked away and dumped.”
“On the road shoulders, they are to grub and clean off all the parapets as directed by the engineer, inclusive of removing all the vegetation, overburden, material and what we have been seeing. People are doing some amount of extension or improvements to their homes to buy a whole truckload of sand, but they only need a quarter. So, the sand is remaining there, grass is growing in it and water can’t flow to the drains, and the road is being damaged. We have to clear away all those materials that have been there, all encroachments and accumulated garbage on the road shoulder. So, these contractors that have gone out there also have to remove all the accumulated garbage. It doesn’t mean that householders can’t come out now, and when you see the truck, bring out garbage to put in there,” he added.
When these works are completed, Edghill said it will have a “huge impact” in Georgetown.
“Within another couple of weeks, Georgetown should look different, and should we have rain, what we saw earlier in the year should not occur,” he posited.