Ongoing road works in New Amsterdam were recently reviewed by Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson. Accompanied by a team from his Ministry, Minister Patterson mission was to address concerns relating to unnecessary downtime.
Along with the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Kenneth Jordan, and Coordinator/Chief Works Officer of the Work Services Group, Mr. Geoffrey Vaughn, Minister Patterson turned out early in the morning to inspect the progress of works being undertaken on Main and Republic Streets in New Amsterdam.
The visit came on the heels of reports to the Ministry of slothfulness in the execution of the project, which has caused inconveniences to the residents of the community.
During the visit, Minister Patterson met with a number of officials, including the Ministry’s Region #6 Regional Engineer; the contractor, Associated Contractor Company; and a representative from the Community Oversight Committee to ascertain the reasons behind the delay and determine the way forward.
Following the visit, a number of solutions were determined, including the reopening of one lane of the road to vehicular traffic to reduce the level of inconvenience experienced by the residents.
Nonetheless, it was emphasised that all necessary steps, such as the testing of materials, must be taken to ensure that the work will stand the test of time, despite the delays these steps may cause.
The works, which include scarification, asphalting, and deep patching of failed sections, are now expected to conclude by mid-December.
Works have also been stalled on Republic Street and the visit to this site saw Minister Patterson urging remobilisation of the contractor to ensure that the project progresses as planned.
“These are main streets in New Amsterdam and residents should not have to go through this; we cannot do this to people,” Minister Patterson emphasised to the engineer.
Meanwhile, the team from the Ministry also visited the East Bank Berbice road, the second such trip to the project in recent months. Just three weeks ago, Minister Patterson led a team to the project site for a first-hand look at the progress of works to date. He also met with officials from Berbice to discuss infrastructural works being undertaken in the region.