Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 20, 2009 News
The silence continues to prevail on the issue of ‘Plastic City’ in the national budgetary allocations for 2009.
This is according to People’s National Congress Reform Member of Parliament, Mervyn Williams, who reminded the House on Tuesday evening that, after his presentation on ‘Plastic City’ to the house last year, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand visited and personally distributed some school uniform vouchers.
Williams sought to lambaste the government’s approach in dealing with that depressed community. “That was the extent of the government’s intervention as far as ‘Plastic City’ was concerned.”
He sought to point out that no inventory of houses and households was done, neither was there any known effort at relocating those who are conspicuously vulnerable to health and other risks.
He posited that he was hopeful that the 2009 budget would have provided for the allocation and development of land specifically for these citizens.
“I expected that provision would have been made to assist with and facilitate their relocation… I expected that provision would have been made for the regularisation of the others and for providing them with the basic necessities of life… Alas, ‘Plastic City’, the forgotten place, has not found favour with the government despite my reminder.”
Guyana is a poor country, and the popular term ‘ghetto’ has been used to describe some of the most unappealing living conditions around.
A perfect example of this is ‘Plastic City’, a makeshift community of wood scraps, tarpaulin, pieces of plastic, and anything that could be put together to provide shelter.
Nestled on the shore more than 200 feet beyond the seawall at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, and surrounded by mangrove trees along a jetty, lies ‘Plastic City’.
More than 20 years ago the less fortunate — those who could not even find a decent environment to squat in — resorted to the not-so-safe seashore for residence. The same thing had occurred some time ago in the city aback of Le Meridien Pegasus.
In the early days of its formation, the buildings were made of a few sticks of bramble forming the support posts, and plastic was utilised as walls.
Today not much has changed, but some of the residents have managed to acquire wood and build much more stable structures.
There are scores of families who reside in this location which some in its environs say the Creator forgot – each building is no bigger than 15 feet x 15 feet, while its foundation is what is termed slush mud, with water lodged underneath and around most houses.
Electricity obviously is non-existent, hence appliances that are taken for granted, such as television sets, fans, electric irons, radios, or a simple incandescent bulb, are considered luxuries for residents of ‘Plastic City’.
Water is lodged in every crack and crevice on the ground (of course it’s the seashore, remember!), but clean water for drinking and cooking has to be fetched from long distances.
Nonetheless the families occupying the area contend that ‘a house is not a home’ and, until a Supreme Being provides better, they intend to put a smile on their faces and be thankful for life.
Williams also raised the issue of Parika sea dam citizens, who he posited were similarly precariously positioned, and who have been served with notices to remove by the Sea Defence Authority.
He added that, out of fear of demolition of the only place they can call home, many have disassembled their own homes and either moved to squat on privately owned lands or moved back with relatives, changing their lifestyles and inconveniencing themselves and their relatives.
This, he said, places tremendous economic pressure on both hosts and guests alike, and exposes children in such houses at significant risks which could change their lives for the worse and forever… Yet this budget continues to ignore the difficult circumstances of these citizens and hundreds like them across this country.
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