Dear Editor,
The Regional Democratic Council, Region 9, is presently dissatisfied with the recently awarding of a contract for the construction of a bridge over the Tabatinga Creek, which links Lethem and Tabatinga.
The awarded cost is approximately million.
The RDC is of the view that there isn’t any dire need for the bridge at this time but there is an immediate need for the maintenance of roads within the Tabatinga housing scheme.
The roads in Tabatinga are in a disgraceful and deplorable state and most times can be a traffic hazard to road users.
The mayor of the municipality of Lethem only recently said his justification for constructing the bridge is that this would ease the congestion of traffic at the main Tabatinga Bridge, however the general public knows that in the municipality of Lethem there isn’t any congestion of traffic at present.
No consultations with the residents of Lethem were done before the construction of this bridge. If consultations were done residents would have objected to this initiative and recommended the upgrading of the road.
Residents are of the opinion that the said amount of money could have provided a proper road for their community instead of the bridge that will be of no use to them at present.
Only recently at a meeting held with the Minister of Public Infrastructure in Lethem this issue was also raised, but the Minister responded that by constructing this bridge it is in keeping with the concern that their mayor is not firstly consulting with them when he is planning the infrastructural development of Lethem.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Persaud
