– East Coast residents urge Govt, NDCs
Several main access and inline roads in key communities along the East Coast of Demerara have, over the past few years, fallen into a state of disrepair or have become deplorable, forcing residents on Thursday and Friday last to protest the conditions as they pleaded for the authorities to undertake urgent repairs and upgrades of these roads.
When the Guyana Times visited Beterverwagting, Annandale and Enterprise on Thursday morning, residents complained bitterly about the state of the roads and the fact that they have been lobbying for over three years to get their respective Neigbourhood Democratic Councils to undertake remedial and corrective works.
“We are fed up, frustrated and tired! They do not respond to, or understand, the 
discomfort we experience when we have to traverse these roads”, Shanti Persaud of Annandale explained during an interview.
The woman said that when there is a heavy downpour and the streets in certain part of Annandale flood, the potholes in the roads sink deeper, and persons could injure themselves.
Another resident of Enterprise said there is need for certain corrective works to be done to roads in key sections of the community. He said there are times when vehicle owners complain about the roads and their state.
Meanwhile, residents of communities such as Mon Repos, Success, La Bonne Intention (LBI), Montrose and Better Hope are also complaining about the poor state of their roads.
“The school children are the most affected, and those who have to walk through the mud and (slush) to access public transportation. Vehicle owners and operators who work in Montrose and Better Hope are also experiencing hardship”, Ryan Persaud of Third Street, Montrose told Guyana Times on Friday.
He said he was concerned about the poor works being done by the local NDC in the area, and wanted more progress and swift action to have the potholes and badly damaged roads within his community affected.
The residents claim that some of the roads had been neglected for years, and little or no work is being done to improve the conditions of the roads.
“The Chairman lives not too far from here, and look at our roads. He is not doing anything for us”, another Montrose resident explained.
When contacted in December last year, Chairman of the Better Hope/Success/LBI NDC, Zaman Shaw, sympathised with the residents. He admitted that the roads in those communities were in dire need of repair, but distanced his NDC for being solely responsible for their maintenance and upkeep.
Shaw had said that his NDC was doing its part and had been lobbying the RDC and Central Government to make more resources available to make the necessary interventions.
Some improvement work was done soon after, but most of the roads have reverted to being deplorable.
Meanwhile, residents of Plaisance have also bemoaned the poor state of their roads, and have called for action to be taken to correct the hatchet job that is continually being done on the roads there.
The East Coast residents want the local Neighbourhood Democratic Council and the relevant regional as well as Central Government bodies to take swift action to return their communities and the road infrastructure there to their former glory. (Michael Younge)
