New road to Vey Vey, Mahaicony

DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Residents of the small community of Vey Vey, Mahaicony are happy for an all-weather access road after years of slogging through muddy dams to get in and out of their village.

Vey Vey, which comprises only fifteen households, is located about a mile south of the now hardly ever used Mahaica road leading to the old Mahaica Bridge and market.

Melissa Thomas a resident recently said: “I am 39 years old. I was born and grew up in this community. My father is 70 odd years old – the people living here are all relatives. From the time have I known myself, getting out to the main road at Mahaica, the old road, was always a struggle.”

Thomas said the residents resorted to using a shortcut through the coconut estate to the north of the village. But that proved difficult since there was no pathway. “Many times, we had to chop a pathway through the vegetation to get home. Then the private owner of the estate stopped us from using his land to get into and out of the village and so after that for years it was a nearly mile-long walk through mud and slush during the rainy season to get in and out,” Thomas further explained

Thomas shared that the residents of Vey Vey welcome the new all-weather access road and are optimistic that this is the beginning of further infrastructural developments for the community.

The road was built by the Regional Administration of Region Five, Mahaica/Berbice at a cost of approximately $11.5Million following requests from the villagers to both the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Five, Ovid Morrison and PNCR Member of Parliament in Region Five, Jennifer Wade.

The road which has a durable crusher run surface now gives problem-free access to agricultural lands in the vicinity and behind the village. Although so near to the coast, residents at the community of Vey Vey have also never benefited from potable water and electricity but now things are changing for them.

The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is setting up a potable water distribution system there and electricity supply is being actively pursued by the administration to provide this facility to villagers for the first time in the eighty years of the community’s existence.

“We are looking forward to electricity. We want our children to get a sound education. I had to use a lamp to do homework at night. We children got to study with lamps. We want to progress. We want better for our children,” Thomas said.

Story and Image: Clifford Stanley.