Tuschen councillors, residents criticise Govt for neglected roads

Residents and NDC Councillors of the East Bank Essequibo communities of Tuschen and Zeelugt are contending that, despite efforts made in the past to engage authorities on the state of the roadways in those communities, no remedial action has been taken by Government in regard to having the roads rehabilitated.
Consequently, the roads are currently in a deplorable state, and continue to worsen with time.
Speaking with Guyana Times on Friday, Councillors of the Tuschen- Uitvlugt Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) indicated that the situation of the entire road network along Block Eight, Tuschen New Scheme has seen no maintenance in three years.
“It has been like that for the past three years. What happened is (that), under the previous administration, we would’ve seen regular maintenance of that road occurring on a yearly basis; and not only the road, but the drainage system. Right

now, no work has been done in the scheme. The entire road network in Tuschen Block Eight is in terrible situation,” one of the councillors stated.
Contacted, NDC Chairman Vishal Ambedkar also indicated that maintenance of the Tuschen and Zeelugt area does not fall within the remit of the Council, but that of Central Government. He further indicated that the Council has tried on numerous occasions to contact both Local and Central Government entities to have the roads fixed, but there has been no response in over two years.
“To date, nothing has been done: no update, no plans as to what is in the pipeline for Tuschen or Zeelugt. Those two areas don’t come under the NDC,” Ambedkar said.
“Regarding other roads in the area, the NDC tried as much as possible, where it can and where we have the resources, to carry out and execute works,” Ambedkar further related. “We have raised the situation with those roads at every level. We’ve raised it at the NDC, where it came from councillors of that area. We raised it at the (level of the) RDC; at the parliamentary (level), as well as (with subject ministers). We’ve highlighted the situation with those roads with Minister Patterson, Minister Harmon; and we’ve written letters to the Ministry of Communities,” he added.
He highlighted that during the rainy season, the roads are in a much worse state, since the drains are in need of maintenance as well.
“If you were to come here and see what the people has to go through every day to get out from the scheme on to the public road to go to work, school, and so on, you’ll be amazed at how they do it, especially when the rain falls,” Ambedkar detailed.
He related that complaints about the condition of the road are lodged at the council every day by drivers and other road users. However, little can be done by the council, since the issue requires the attention of the Public Infrastructure Ministry.
“I receive complaints on a daily basis from residents in Tuschen as well as Zeelugt New Scheme. No assistance is being given to those communities by Central Government. Sometimes we want to know if those two communities are in Guyana, because you see things happening in the other communities in terms of road and infrastructure, but when it comes to Tuschen and Zeelugt, nothing is being done,” the NDC Chairman said.
This neglect of the roads has led to many using alternative measures to exit the scheme; and in some cases, drivers would take more than twice the time to traverse the road.
A 48-year-old taxi driver who gave his name only as Mohan indicated that he would have to conduct regular repairs on his car, since the large craters along the entire road would register serious damages on his vehicle.
“I was driving here all the time, and nothing never use to happen. Now, sometimes every week something does wrong with me car. That’s more expense, and then the gas price even more now,” the distraught man explained.
Persons who have to traverse the roads on a daily basis are concerned, since their travel is time consuming and the situation is unbearable when it rains.