Belle West residents halt construction of community bridge

  … Calls it a waste of taxpayers’ money

Over five months now, work on a community bridge at Belle West, West Bank Demerara has been halted after residents prevented its construction, citing a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. The wooden bridge is being constructed alongside an existing one which was earlier this year featured on the front page of this newspaper as being unsafe and in a deplorable state. The residents are contending that the new bridge is not needed since it would be useless to destroy an existing concrete base bridge to construct a less durable wooden structure. One resident, Suresh Sukraj told Kaieteur News that residents demanded from the Regional Democratic Council that they stop all work on the new bridge

The two wooden poles on the left where the new Belle West bridge was being built.

since they are “wasting money”. Sukraj said that the existing bridge has been in use for over 20 years. The base of the bridge is made out of concrete and is still in a reusable condition. He explained that the wooden top of the crossing is in a poor condition and residents fear that sooner than later it will cave in. The RDC he explained, is seeking however to use some seven to eight million dollars to construct a wooden bridge with a life span of “probably eight to ten years”. The residents, he continued, believe that this money could be used to fix the deplorable roads in the community since it would cost less to upgrade the old bridge. Sukraj noted however that when the community’s concern was related to the RDC they were told that the money was allocated for the bridge’s construction and that is what they were going to use it for. Sukraj said further that residents were told that if they don’t want the bridge then none will be built, hence construction work being stalled for the past five months. Sukraj continued that the community is adamant that a new bridge is not needed and would prefer that the old bridge be repaired, while the excess money could be used for road improvements. Alliance of Change Councilor Harry Deokinanan told this newspaper that he brought the bridge issue to the RDC in March of this year and advocated for its repair. Funds were later allocated for the construction of the bridge. In October, he said, the matter was brought back to the RDC after some discrepancies and the Council decided that an investigation would be launched into the matter with changes to be made to the project. The project was supposed to change within a week’s time Deokinanan said, but to date, “nothing has been done.” Residents continue to worry that the bridge might cave in at any time, especially with the daily crossing of vehicles on the community crossing.