Govt promises to rectify narrow concrete roads in Berbice

Many persons have complained about the width of the concrete roads being built by the Public Works Ministry in several communities across Region Six (East Berbice -Corentyne).
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday explained that in many of those areas, the space is not available for the roads to be wider, but the Government continues to build every road that requires upgrading. His comment came following complaints from residents of Berbice, during a recent outreach.
“Some of the roads are like eight feet, so you had to put the water main in the middle of the road because there is no parapet and then cover it over with the concrete strip so people will get something to walk on,” he explained.
In other areas, he agreed that the Ministry should have built roads measuring twelve feet in width. But to solve this problem, he said; “We explained to them that we’re going to dig out the shoulders, two feet on each side and have a compacted surface with sand and crush and run so even if you come off the road, you can widen it.”
This will be done between utility poles which are also planted on the community roads.
The vice president said unlike other political parties, his government provides solutions and look at ways to address people’s issues.
“We don’t go up there and skin our teeth and take a few pictures all the time, we don’t do that, we talk about substance,” he noted.
He added that in other areas of investment, the Government has provided each local Government body which contested the last Local Government Elections with an excavator to improve drainage and irrigation in their communities while garbage compactors were provided for the towns.