Samville village to be significantly upgraded – McCoy

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy on Sunday said that the community of Samville, which is located in Kuru Kururu on the Soesdyke Linden Highway, will soon see many upgrades to its infrastructure.
On Saturday, McCoy, during a walk around the community, engaged with several residents who shared their concerns about the current state of the infrastructure within the community. He shared that his presence in the community comes as part of his usual routine visits, which happens frequently in many other areas along the highway.

According to McCoy, commitments for upgrades were made to residents by President Dr Irfaan Ali, during his last visit to the neighbouring community of Kuru Kururu, many of which are already in the implementation phase.
“One of it [the commitments] was to examine the situation with Samville. And so…the President’s office had the GPL (Guyana Power & Light) team go in there along with Lands and Survey to do an assessment…for the purposes of treating the electricity issue in that community. So, you will see steps being unfolded over time to be able to have…that commitment fulfilled,” McCoy unveiled.
He further added that on the matter of electricity, he will be continuously following up with GPL until progress is made.
In relation to the upgrades of roads, McCoy added that “We should have some roads being done in the community and those of course [will] add to the community’s assets. I believe, I am not absolutely sure, but I think they should be in the tender process in terms of the advertisement stage at this time.”
When the tender process is completed, the contract will be awarded and work will begin.
Some sections of the roads within the community are in a deplorable state, which hinders residents from traversing without hinderance.
Speaking with this publication on Sunday, a resident shared her struggles with transportation in Samville given the condition of the roads, adding that a taxi was unable to take her directly to her home after being stuck in the sand.
“I usually take taxis when I go grocery shopping, and due to the looseness of the sand the car was stuck and I had to walk the remaining distance home with my luggage. As a result, taxi drivers were hesitant to come up here again. However, one of the residents recently placed clay soil on that section of the street, so we’re okay for the time being, but other sections of the street are still bad to drive when the sand gets loose,” the resident shared.
Samville is a small underdeveloped community consisting of an average of 400 persons. The community, however, received electricity in early 2015, not by integration into the national grid, but via the provision of solar panels by the PPP/C Administration. Before that, some residents were relying on lamps as their primary source of light at the time, while others were fortunate to have generators.
The package, distributed by the PPP/C, consisted of one 65-Watt solar panel; one solar power GEL battery, two Edison screw light bulbs and bulb sockets, and a switchboard with attached solar power charging systems. Packages were distributed once per household to everyone living there at the time.
This distribution had an impactful change on the lives of many citizens who were able to transition from kerosene lamps to solar power, which aided them to live a more comfortable lifestyle. With this change, residents were then able to afford the use of electrical appliances such as fridges, TVs, and microwaves, and had access to Wi-Fi systems and more, enabling residents to live more comfortably.
Solar power is energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy. Its technologies can harness this energy for the generation of electricity, providing light and a lot more. Photovoltaics, one of the three ways to harness solar power, generates electricity directly from the sun via an electronic process, and that electricity is then used to power anything, from small electronics to homes and even large commercial businesses.
To date, the appliances of most residents of the community are still powered by solar system generated electricity, whereas other residents who moved there following said distribution use generators.