Berbice water projects flowing from Cabinet visit - Baksh
The 20 water projects which Water Minister, Shaik Baksh, promised communities in East Berbice to implement are all well on stream. He said that in company with Director of Water Services, Paul Bonar, and Chairman of the Basic Needs Trust Fund, Kemraj Rai, he had visited the area two weeks ago to monitor the progress of the work and that he intended to return two weeks hence. Detailing the status of the various projects at a press briefing hosted by Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, on Friday at the GTV 11 studios, Homestretch Avenue, Baksh said that the water project at Crabwood Creek, which includes laying pipelines in the whole area was about 90% complete. The project to supply water to all the villages between Number 61 and Number 65, he said, was about 40% complete and another project covering the villages between Adventure and Lancaster, which includes the laying of trunk lines, should have been completed last week. On stream currently, Baksh said, was the project in the Albion area, which takes in the villages of Guava Bush, Doctor Bush, High Reef and Sand Reef. So too were the projects in the Port Mourant area including Bangladesh, Haswell, and Number 11 Public Road (the old Ankerville area). The minister said too that work had been completed on the projects in areas including Kilcoy-Chesney, Seawell, Scotsburg, Dukesburg, and Adelphi. He said that there were about six projects on stream for housing schemes, explaining that the pipelines and fittings were on site and ditching was taking place at all the locations. With regard to Stage Three of the New Amsterdam water project, Baksh said there was a setback due to problems in acquiring materials but that this should be rectified shortly. The projects detailed by Baksh were those about which he had given commitments to residents in East Berbice that he would ensure were completed on time. The commitments were made when President Bharrat Jagdeo and his Cabinet conducted a fan out exercise to introduce the Cabinet to the people of Region Six (East Berbice/ Corentyne). The Berbice fan out was the first in the series followed by the exercise in Linden last week. A similar exercise in the Essequibo, the last for the year, will be conducted between December 3 and 4, according to Dr Luncheon.
|