Govt aims to provide modern, durable infrastructure – Minister Edghill

Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill, MP, says his Ministry is working “in a phased manner” to develop roads across the country.

The Minister made this statement at the commissioning of the upgraded McDougal and Owen Streets in Kitty on Tuesday.

He said the Government is not taking an armchair approach to addressing road issues, rather officials have been on the ground to ensure that the people’s needs are being met.

Minister Edghill along with Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development Anand Persaud MP, have travelled across the regions to identify areas or streets that need to be rehabilitated.

“We [aren’t] only building roads for show- the front streets and the main street where everybody could see and clap…

Between now and July 31, couple of days from now, we should have more than 20 roads coming to a close; works that were undertaken since we came into office,” he said.

Meanwhile, several roads were completed earlier this year, many of which were financed through the 2020 Budget. Several community roads catered for in the 2021 Budget were also done. This, Minister Edghill said, is an indication of the continuing cycle of development and provision of services to the people.

“Allocations have been made across the board in a non-discriminatory manner and where works are being done, the qualification is not given to a ‘big shot’ or a ‘big boy’ or a ‘high official’ live there.

[It] is the fact that people live there. The citizens of Guyana live there and they deserve to get the best,” he said.

Minister Edghill also said $66 million were spent on maintenance work since the last rainy season left the roads deteriorated. He added that proper drainage must be established.

“Last December, we had to make a significant intervention to do drainage, desilting, clearing of channels and outfalls just to ensure the city don’t flood and we expended a couple hundred million dollars in that exercise.”

The Public Works Minister said major works are being done in every region to have improvements, and “ensuring that we get value for money.”

Additionally, he noted that the President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali-led administration is committed to working with citizens to develop roads and infrastructure that are durable.

“We are building resilient infrastructure. We are building proper things. We are building with the future in mind and we are building for the next level of development that is coming.”

The Ministry is focused on improving the lives of the people by modernising infrastructure so that all persons can experience an enhanced quality of life.