Kaneville man builds house on main access road

Nov 21, 2008 News

Residents in Kaneville, East Bank Demerara, are calling on the relevant authorities to look into a situation in their community, where a man in their village is in the process of constructing a house on the main access road in the area.

Residents told Kaieteur News that the road has been in the community for the past 30 years, and it is the only road which runs from east to west in the area.

They noted that it is totally unfair for the man to “just up and build a house”, blocking the only access road that they have in the community.

Residents told this newspaper that, for the past 30 years, they have been maintaining the road by asking for donations from a number of businesses, so that children from the day care, nursery and primary schools can use the road to go home.

The villagers explained that when they questioned the man as to why he resorted to building a house on the main access road, he told them that he had received permission from the Ministry of Housing.

However, when residents contacted that ministry, they learnt that no such permission was granted to the man. The authorities at the ministry then advised the residents to form a delegation and visit the ministry on Monday, so that the matter can be resolved.

As it is currently, the man has already constructed a ‘shack’ on the road, and residents said that they are trying to stop the man before he constructs a larger structure, which they noted he is planning to do.

“It is hard on the children. Many of the parents leave them at the school and go to work. The children have to go home by themselves. We cannot tolerate it. Where are these children going to walk?”

Residents noted that they first started to observe that something was amiss when the man began to remove the boards from the bridge so that he could construct his home.

“When he gon block up here, where are we going to use? This is the only access road that we have, and we cannot allow him to do something like this. Someone has to do something about it,” the residents said.

Residents added that before the national elections were held in Guyana, President Bharrat Jagdeo had visited the community and declared that the road was the main access road.