Junior Minister attached to the Communities Ministry, Annette Ferguson on Wednesday admitted that the vehicles owned by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) are “old” but she does not want to blame that just yet for the cause of the fire, which destroyed the agency’s Nissan pickup on Tuesday afternoon.
The vehicle belonging to the Central Housing and Planning Authority on fire
Ferguson told this publication, on the sidelines of an event hosted at the Ministry’s Kingston, Georgetown office, that “I want to underscore the point that the fleet of vehicles there at CH&PA are actually old vehicles so I don’t want to immediately say now that probably the fire was caused due to that but as I said before an investigation is ongoing so I await the final report on that investigation”.
She noted that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the agency, Lelon Saul, has been informed of the incident which is currently being investigated.
Meanwhile, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle, when contacted by this newspaper, said he is not ready to disclose any details surrounding that matter as it is still being probed.
The Nissan pickup, which bore registration plate PNN 7686, burst into flames on Tuesday afternoon on the Rupert Craig Highway in the vicinity of the Rubis Gas Station.
The driver, Wilbert Mingo, who is said to be in his late 30s, was accompanied by his colleague, Daniel Persaud, in the pickup which was heading to East Coast Demerara when the incident occurred.
Guyana Times understands that Mingo observed smoke billowing from his air conditioning vents and thought something was amiss. Before he could have brought the vehicle to a halt to make checks, the vehicle burst in flames.
He and Persaud rushed from the vehicle on to the flooded roadway to safety and escaped unhurt, but the vehicle was destroyed.
The Government vehicle is the fifth for the year to be mysteriously destroyed by fire.
