One of several private enterprises in the neighbourhood
The Soesdyke/Te Huis't Te/Coverden Neighbourhood covers these three villages as well as Den Heuvel and has become known as a major centre for poultry rearing. It spans three miles along the East Bank Demerara Public Road from the clay brick factory in the north at Coverden to the Police outpost at Madewini in the south.
The neighbourhood to the north is Caledonia/Good Success but Madewini to the south is not a neighbourhood.
The Soesdyke Te Huis't Te/Coverden Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) has provision for an eighteen-member council but at present the council has been reduced to an eleven-member body.
The NDC Chairman, Leslie Glasgow told Stabroek News that the council has had a number of openings for councillors who resigned or left the council for one reason or another over the years and has now exhausted the list of eligible candidates.
Glasgow is looking forward to local government elections which could bring new faces to the council. He said that he is prepared to serve another term in office having functioned first as a councillor for two years then as chairman for the last eight. He took over as chairman when Leon Barker, who was elected to the post, migrated to the US.
Members of the Soesdyke/Linden Junction Hire Car Association building a fence around their car park.
He said that working with the NDC as a councillor calls for a lot of sacrifice and a spirit of volunteerism. The stipend of $5,000 a month for the chairman was, he said, grossly inadequate and he is advocating a substantial increase to attract committed persons to get involved in the business of local government. He feels that people on the ground should have a greater say and that political parties should not contest the local government elections. However, he noted that co-operation between the two groups, which contested the elections, has always been good and there was always a crossing of the political divide between the two.
At the 1994 local government elections the Soesdyke Community Development Council (CDC) of which Glasgow was a candidate won nine seats and the PPP/C the other nine. Today six councillors from the Soesdyke CDC remain on the council and five from the PPP/C.
The statutory meetings of the council are held on the fourth Wednesday of every month. The meetings are open to the public and residents would often write to the council about their concerns or put forward their concerns to the council at the statutory meetings. Most of the problems deal with encroachment on land by landowners and blockage of drains.
The NDC is now housed in a new multi-purpose building, which was constructed with funds provided through the President's Youth Choice Initiative. Initially it was housed in a dilapidated building within the neighbourhood.
Glasgow said that another site had been proposed for the multi-purpose building but since the NDC had land available, the council asked that the project be sited within the neighbourhood. This project was initiated by teacher and past President's College student, Robina Baksh. The building also houses an office for the National Insurance Scheme and the President's Youth Choice Initiative.
Glasgow said that as funds become available the NDC would be upgrading the compound, which should also attract a number of youths since computers and sewing machines have been made available to the Youth Choice Initiative for programmes to aid young people in their development.
A growing NDC
The neighbourhood is found at the busy intersection of the East Bank Public Road and the start of the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and it is growing rapidly in population with a number of developments taking place in the area. The current population is about 6,000. Among the developments are a number of poultry and livestock farms which provide employment to residents.
One resident told Stabroek News that no one in the area should be unemployed as there is always recourse to the land for agricultural development.
The neighbourhood is considered one of the biggest poultry-producing areas in the country. It is not considered a depressed area.
Rates and taxes
Glasgow said that the NDC experiences problems in the collection of rates and taxes mainly from the big businesses in the area. However, residents are generally prompt in the payment of their rates and taxes. The ordinary man, accounts for 40% of the rates and taxes collected but 90% of the big businesses fail to pay their rates and taxes in a timely manner.
Among the prompt rate-payers are Colgate Palmolive, Bounty Farms and Toucan's Poultry Farm.
Achievements
Glasgow feels that the council's greatest achievements were the upgrading of mud dams to white sand roads. He said that when the council came into office ten years ago there were few proper roads. However, he said that the construction of roads in the NDC is not within the purview of the NDC and the few roads have not been handed over officially to the NDC. There is one road, called the Back Road, which has been given over to the NDC, and at present the council is working on upgrading it to a chip seal road. This road runs parallel to the East Bank Public Road and it is linked to the public road by three access roads.
Another achievement Glasgow cited was the cleaning of drainage trenches which the NDC is responsible for. However, he said that the area is still susceptible to flooding especially during the heavy rainy season which when coupled with high tides means water cannot drain from the Madewini backlands. The outfalls are located at Baksh Trench, Ng a Kien, Meertens, Santos, Latchman, Goorahoo and Leacock trenches.
Weeding and cleaning of drains, he said, should be done more regularly but this programme is hampered by the poor collection of rates and taxes.
Vending
Vending on the roadside at the junction, he said was a hazardous exercise. The vendors are selling illegally there. According to Glasgow, a number of them were there before the current council took office. They have been issued with notices to remove but have not. Instead their numbers have increased from three to more than double the amount.
The NDC through the senior environmental officer attached to the council, Richard Seymour, has taken a number of the vendors to court. The matter is before the court at present.
A number of stories were told about vehicles speeding along the roadway and careening into houses and stalls along the roadside. No one, however, was ever injured.
One vendor has placed a number of used tyres around his stall to break the impact from any vehicle, which may divert from its path into the stall.
Glasgow said that the matter of the vendors along the roadway was due to come up at the last statutory meeting of the council held last Wednesday. Statutory meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of every month.
He said that the council gave permission to a cycle club to build a structure for competitions but the structure has since evolved and the council was now reviewing the decisions and actions likely to be taken to regularise that situation.
The council, too, he noted, has given the Soesdyke/Linden Junction Hire Car Association permission to build a car park at the side of the junction. In the past the hire care drivers would park their cars along the roadside. But parked cars were known to have been involved in accidents with vehicles speeding in the area. The hire cars usually ply the trails along Dora, Laluni, Long Creek, Hauraruni, Timehri and around the circuit and Kuru Kuru College.
Spokesman for the association, Christopher Jettoo told this newspaper that apart from fencing in the park the association was building a shed for the drivers. The association has been in existence for five years.
No system of garbage collection
This NDC has no system of garbage collection. At present residents are encouraged to bury or burn their domestic garbage. Though the area looks relatively clean, Glasgow noted that a habit is developing whereby some businesses within the area are dumping their garbage in drains.
It is also alarming to note that businesses from as far as Georgetown would bring their garbage and dump it in the trenches and on road shoulders within the neighbourhood.
He said that "nobody sees when they are being dumped and even if they see they behave as though they don't know."
Public utilities
When the NDC took office a reliable supply of electricity, water and telephones services were not available. However, most homes now boast of the basic amenities for a comfortable standard of living.
With the exception of the squatting areas potable water is available to most homes as well as telephones. Just last November the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company installed a telephone exchange within the area.
Absence of a playground
One of the concerns of the council is the absence of a playground to meet the recreational and sporting needs of young people as well as a burial ground. Glasgow noted that the NDC had been promised a portion of land for this purpose by a citizen who had owned a lot. However, that issue is now held up in court as the relatives of the deceased are contesting the grant.
There are a number of sports clubs including the Soesdyke Sports Club and the Falcons Football Club which is affiliated to the East Bank Football Union.
Squatting
A squatting area has developed at the Soesdyke Hillfoot. People from all over the country have begun making their homes there. There is no layout plan for the area and no plans for roads. Though water is not piped to the area, the Guyana Power and Light provides electricity. The lines were run, according to some residents at Soesdyke in a haphazard manner, after Prime Minister Sam Hinds made the request of GPL.
Regularisation, Glasgow told Stabroek News, has to be done by the Ministry of Housing and Water but requests made by the NDC to regularise the situation before it gets even further out of hand are still to be heeded.
He noted, too, that there are a number of properties that have been abandoned. Some owners have died and others have migrated. For the development of some areas this would require permission from the estates or the landowners. He said some might call to seek advice as to what could be done about their lands but some do not.