Residents of Little Diamond East Bank Demerara have accused BK International of damaging the only access to their community; a bridge and the main roadway.
BK International is presently constructing a sluice behind the community and as such, this has caused major destruction to the bridge and road as a result of workers transporting heavy-duty equipment.
Works Chairman of the Little Diamond/Herstelling Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Wilfred Bassant in an interview with Guyana Times International said that the bridge to the new developing community was built some five years ago and was in perfect condition up until two months ago when BK began works in the area.
“The destruction of this bridge and the road started two months ago. They brought in piles on a hauler truck and a few of the boards broke which they replaced with some old pieces of timber and continued fetching their equipment and materials via these heavy-duty trucks. And more and more the boards keep breaking,” he explained.
Bassant said that over the last few weeks, the bridge continued to sink deeper and is in a deteriorating state. The NDC has written to the Public Infrastructure Ministry, the regional authorities and the Communities Minister and to date they are still to receive a response.
He said the condition of the road “is like a mud dam” and residents are suffering greatly while noting that the contractor is unconscionable.
“I was at home when I heard a cracking sound and when I came out, I noticed three more boards were broken as the workers were transporting sand across the bridge in one of those big sand trucks,” the NDC Chairman added.
Residents are now fearful of using this bridge due to its condition and it is the only entrance and exit to the community.
Residents are also fearful that in the case of an emergency, they will be left to suffer the consequences since a fire truck or ambulance cannot traverse that bridge in a hurry.
“Nothing can come in here. We even afraid to walk over that bridge. We have children going to school and that bridge is in a terrible state and we have no other means of getting in or out of here. Taxis don’t even want to bring people in here, this is how bad it is,” Nandanie Singh, a resident said.
Further, Bassant pointed out that in some other areas where works are being done, the contractors take responsibility for maintenance of damaged roads and access ways. “We are saying if BK is using the bridge to fetch his heavy-duty equipment and materials then he should maintain it. When the contractor was doing works in Herstelling, they built their own access road without creating disruption to residents of Herstelling and that posed no problems for those residents so why can’t they do the same thing in here,” Bassant argued.
He expressed hope that one of the Ministries respond soon to the NDC’s letter and offer some guidance and assistance on the way forward. Attempts to get a comment from the owner of BK International, Brian Tiwari, proved futile.
