Those white elephants in our midst

Sep 05, 2009 Editorial

There are too many structures constructed with taxpayers’ money that are left abandoned. Certainly when the plan was hatched to construct them the architects would have taken into consideration the requests by a few, perhaps too few, because some are never ever used.
There was the market on the Lower East Coast Demerara that was constructed with every good intention. The vendors had encroached on the East Coast Demerara Public Road to such an extent that there were more than a few accidents. People got killed crossing the road because some drivers were not careful enough and because the pedestrians assumed that they had the right of way whenever the market was in session.
The regional authorities, but more particularly, the government decided that if it constructed a market then the madness would cease. The idea was good. However, that market was never used. The building became a white elephant because the vendors had their own hang ups. They never used the stalls because they claimed that the people were not going into the market.
There was the Stelling View market in the city. Vendors had all but taken over the pavements and sidewalks in the city and the municipal authorities decided that if they provided a facility then the people would occupy it. The people did not and the facility became another white elephant.
There is the other market on a plot of land that was once occupied by Toolsie Persaud. Again the influx of vendors caused the authorities to contemplate a facility to move them. The results are almost the same, because many of the vendors are refusing to go there.
It is little different with the mall constructed on Merriman Mall where many empty structures now stand.
These things should tell us something. It is like building a school where a community has no interest in education or a hospital and then putting an inadequate number of staff. The people will naturally gravitate to a clinic where they feel that they are guaranteed some form of medical attention.
There are a few clinics in the country, particularly in the riverain areas that are white elephants. It is the same with so many other facilities, one of which was photographed and published on the front page of Kaieteur News.
These things happen because there is never extensive planning with the people who are the intended beneficiaries. There was a time when Guyana pursued a course of development support. People went into the communities, talked with the people and sometimes there were modifications to the original idea.
These days it seems as if the decision-makers know what the people need. The result is wasted expenditure at a time when the nation needs to harness its already scarce financial resources.
More often than not, one cannot use the building for anything else. In one case, the market on the lower East Coast Demerara was to have been made into a nursery school. At least the money was not wasted although the facility did not serve its intended purpose.
We have seen roads constructed and left abandoned. One of them runs along the railway embankment on West Demerara. The concept was good. Farmers would have benefited and the users of the main road would have been spared the tractors and the mud during the rainy season. That road is a white elephant.
One must now wonder whether the government is not playing fast and loose with the public treasury. There are so many things undone and to have these white elephants suggests that there is not a careful study of the needs of the wider society.
Education needs much more money than is allotted because each year, according to the Labour Minister, 3,000 children drop out from school. This translates into 3,000 problems more in a given year. Some of these problems graduate into gunmen and prostitutes.
AIDS is still prevalent. There needs to be a review of the projects we undertake and of the money we spend. Perhaps we need more people to help with the pre-planning.

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Those white elephants in our midst

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