Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 11, 2013 News
A team headed by the Chairman of the Alliance for Change, Nigel Williams, on Saturday visited the community of Barnwell North, East Bank Demerara to listen to concerns by residents of the area.
The community which is located east of Mocha Arcadia was established in the late 1970s when persons were given leases for one acre plots for agricultural development.
However over the years it has been inhabited and cultivated by various small scale farmers, among them persons from Pomeroon and the North West District.
Access to the village is by way of a “poorly maintained” earthen dam which extends from the squatting area for about two miles in an easterly direction. The dam is adjacent to and runs alongside the canal which flows into the Demerara River. Several persons live on smaller dams which run perpendicular and lead to the canal.
At an unarranged meeting by the team, residents of the area raised a number of issues including no potable water to their homes. They also saw the need for a pump at the koker of the canal at the Demerara River to reduce the permanent flooding during the rainy season. They also called for electricity and the construction for an access road.
Some of the residents added that it was apparent to see that during the rainy season their agricultural holdings were permanently under water as the water in Canal would back up and flood their holdings.
The AFC said that the serious consequence of this was that they could and would only plant during the dry season. The economic consequences of this were also very evident.
Also raised by residents was the daily task of getting their produce to the market proved to be a challenge; as the dam is in a poor condition and when the produce is taken to the good road at Mocha. Transportation to the market is unreliable as most of the minibuses and taxis would already be filled by residents of Mocha.
In a release from the AFC it was related that “The Community Development Council (CDC) had not held elections for the past four years. According to the residents, they are not satisfied with the manner in which the CDC conducts its affairs particularly between those persons who held leases and those further back that had applied for leases, and had not yet been awarded leases”.
The resident also complained of favoritism in the way persons are selected by the CDC for jobs in the community for example, cleaning drains.
It was also brought to the attention of the AFC that in 2005 Mott Mc Donald, a UK engineering firm, was commissioned by the Government of Guyana and provided to the Government and the NDIA a comprehensive report on drainage of the coast. The report included a report on the drainage of the lands in Barnwell North.
The recommendations made in the report on Barnwell North have not been implemented.
After the public meeting, the AFC team ventured into one of the side dams where they saw the impact of the flooding.
To think that flooding was the only plight of the residents, it was then related that in the evenings they would hear the sounds of caiman/alligators moving about downstairs. The resident said, he had already killed quite a few snakes. The walk out from this property to the main road is at least two miles in what would be absolute darkness in the night.
During the visit the team also met with the chairman of the CDC who explained that he had spoken with the NDIA and the Minister about flooding in the area.
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