After construction of the main alignment road at Mara, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) was halted for some time, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill visited the construction site on Sunday to facilitate recommencement of the project.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill meeting with residents
The subsequent discussion with villagers resulted in the end of the construction hiatus and operations resumed on Monday.
The Minister alluded to the construction of the road being halted because villagers were still traversing the road with vehicles. This, he said, prevented the smooth progression of the project.
He added that in order for the road to see completion, drivers in the village must be willing to make a sacrifice and stop traversing the roadway until it is completed.
“With development, we have to make some sacrifices…so, this week, I want the road to start excavating … All the materials are here and we can’t have protests when the road opens, so we come to give notice and get agreement,” he said.
The road will be constructed 100 metres at a time beginning at Germania, a community aback Mara until the roadworks measure one kilometre, an agreement made between the Minister and the villagers on Sunday.
To keep track of the progress of the operation, Minister Edghill formed a three-member committee that is tasked with providing him with a weekly report, along with his engineer’s report.
“This afternoon, I want to put in place a three-person committee from this group. On a weekly basis, apart from the reports that I am getting from my engineer, I’ll get reports from the community. So, I’m getting two sets of reports,” the Public Works Minister said.
He added that after both reports were submitted to him, he would make comparisons to see what was actually being done.
The project, which began on March 22, is being executed by the Ministry’s Special Projects Unit. The unit bought some $120 million in materials to complete the works, which will see four miles of road rehabilitation being done, stretching from Germania to Kaiwa.
Since the preparatory works on the shoulders have been done, the road will be excavated, then filled with one foot of sand, six inches of laterite, and four inches of crusher run, and one kilometre of it will be topped with two inches of asphaltic concrete.
