Corentyne NDC not providing needed services with subvention money – residents

…Communities Ministry stymies NDC work – Councillor

Material purchased by one Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) with the last year’s subvention from Central Government have not been used, despite appeals by residents for streets to be repaired.

The country’s largest NDC — the 52/74 NDC on the Corentyne — has $2.3 million worth of material sitting for more than one year while residents plead for better roads.
Part of the NDC 2019 subvention came in the form of crusher-run stone, which has been sitting at the Number 66 Cemetery since April 2019.
Records indicate that 223 tons of stone were delivered to the NDC. On record, the NDC has not used any of it.

A former Member of Parliament who lives within the NDC area and is also a former President of the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, David Subnauth, told this publication that what is currently at the site is estimated to be 50 tons of stone.
“That thing was there for a good while now; since early last year. I understand that 223 tons should have been there, but that does not look like 223 tons. I can’t see that the NDC is having that crusher-run and having the streets in this area like they are, with pot holes that vehicles can stick into. I do not know what is going on.”
The former head of the National Association of Regional Chambers further explained that the NDC is also expecting a similar amount of stone for 2020.

“But then they should account for what they did with the 2019 223 tons, because what is there now looks like about 50 tons.”
Meanwhile, Regional Representative Gobin Harbhajan, who also lives in the NDC area, weighing in on the issue, said the NDC is not working in the best interest of residents. He noted that the material has been sitting at Number 66 Village for more than one year.
He said it appears as though some of the crusher-run has been removed, while adding that within the 52/74 NDC, residents have been complaining of potholes.

Stymie work

A councillor on the NDC, Lakeram Singh, said that while not pleased with what has been happening at the NDC, the Council had been waiting on the Communities Ministry for permission to purchase laterite to mix with the crusher-run as a binding agent.
That permission, according to Singh, was received in April 2020. The request to purchase the laterite was sent to the Communities Ministry in April 2019.
Singh said the supplier currently does not have laterite in stock because of the closing of the Corentyne River by Suriname authorities as part of measures being implemented by the Dutch- speaking territory to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The laterite in mined at Orealla, which is situated along the Corentyne River, and is transported to the Corentyne Coast via the Corentyne River.
“But even though we don’t have the laterite to mix with the crusher-run, there are other NDCs that do not use laterite as a binding agent; they use the crusher-run from the supplier to the streets,” Singh said, while explaining that the 52/74 NDC has done that in the past. He is questioning why the change, which had resulted in a lengthy delay. (Andrew Carmichael)