Pavements are not personal property – Edghill warns

…over 650 contractors to undertake road shoulder, drainage works nationwide

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has issued a stern warning to home and property owners who use boulders and chains to cordon off the parapets or pavements in front of their premises.

“We have to make it clear the pavement in front of our house is not your property. That is state property,” the Minister declared during a briefing on Thursday to update the public on projects that are being undertaken to improve the road networks and enhance access across the country.
In fact, Engineer Kester Hinds, who is in charge of Traffic Safety and Management within the Public Works Ministry, pointed out that these encumbrances not only affect motorists but pedestrians as well.
“We have a situation wherein most of these communities and neighbourhoods, someone would put boulders, they would put barriers, they would put chains on the road reserves, thus preventing even pedestrians from traversing there. They [pedestrians] are exposing themselves to having to walk on the roadside instead of having a safe space to walk,” he noted.
According to Hinds, these encumbrances would be removed as part of a new programme being rolled out by the Public Works Ministry to enhance road shoulders and improve drainage in communities across the country.
Under this initiative, muddy and uneven road shoulders would be upgraded into hard surfaces using crusher run, thus creating better roadside parking for residents and safer roads for all categories of users.
During Thursday’s briefing, Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Madanlall Ramraj, explained that some of these works have already commenced in communities across Georgetown.
“Road shoulders, that is, verges, will be cleared, excavated and filled with compact crusher run or other appropriate aggregates to create a firmer, more durable surface. This will provide improved space for parking, whether appropriate, helping to reduce parking within traffic lanes and support better use of the existing road corridors,” he stated.
Additionally, the programme will also address drainage issues caused by uneven verges, which results in the accumulation of water during rainfall.
“Excavating and reshaping these shoulders to appropriate levels and slopes, and keeping drainage outlets clear, would help water flow more efficiently from the roads into the drains and reduce localised water accumulation,” Ramraj added.
According to Engineer Hinds, the hard shoulders would not only allow water to run off the road surface but also seep through the crusher run. He further explained that given space constraints in many of these communities, the crusher-run hard shoulder provides safe spaces for pedestrians and motorists as well.
Moreover, Head of Works Services Group (WSG) Ron Rahaman pointed out that the crusher run material was selected for these works since it ensures the protection of and allows for easy access to buried utility networks such as the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) mains.
“The granular hard shoulder gives us the opportunity to go in, repair the mains, and repair the hard shoulder with very little inconvenience as opposed to a concrete or asphalt hard surface,” Rahaman noted.

Over 450 contractors working
Nevertheless, Senior Engineer Joel Tucker disclosed that under this hard shoulder road programme, some 260 projects have already been identified in communities across Georgetown, while in excess of 2000 projects are expected to be undertaken countrywide.
In fact, Edghill disclosed that over 450 contractors would be working on these road shoulder and drainage upgrades across the country. Another 200 contractors, he added, would be working on road enhancement projects.
The Public Work Minister noted that these contractors are required to notify residents before commencing works. While urging citizens not to confront contractors carrying out works approved by the ministry, Edghill calls on residents to report if they find shoddy works being done.
Meanwhile, this upgrade of the road shoulders and drainage complements ongoing efforts by the Public Works Ministry to clear derelicts and other encumbrances from the road shoulders and government reserves throughout the country, including in Georgetown.
Engineer Nathan Stewart also disclosed that significant work has been done to clear alleyways across Georgetown to similarly reduce the accumulation of water and enhance drainage. He too highlighted challenges of residents illegally extending their property boundaries onto the alleyways, thus restricting access, as well as dumping of garbage which clogs the drainage passage – all of which they are working to fix.