So many plans, so little execution

May 02, 2010 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Cricket World Cup has come to Guyana and with it the reality that as much as we think we have roadways, the event has exposed this weakness. On Friday, as fate would have it, the telephone lines to Kaieteur News were down so no one could call in unless they had the cell phone numbers for certain staff members.
I got some calls and all of them were about complaints. Truck drivers were calling to complain that they were being asked to park their vehicles on the roadways because they simply were not allowed to drive along the East Bank Demerara corridor.
The police had posted notices about the road closure to these vehicles—they spoke about slow moving vehicles—so there was information. How did these drivers get caught up? Perhaps they could not read, and those among them who could, simply did not pass on the information.
Then there is the question about the radio. There was a time when everyone listened to the radio, even to the point of learning about who died. Not so these days. The incomprehensible drivel that passes for entertainment sometimes causes people like me to ignore what was a magic box in days of yore.
So these drivers were parked, some with their porters who they had to pay. Whatever contracts they had undertaken had to wait or be cancelled.
Now if the situation is bad, imagine what it was like when there was a single narrow strip linking the coastland with Timehri. Just before the four-lane roadway there were traffic jams at the junction of the Demerara Harbour Bridge. People travelling to the airport had to leave extra early and those coming to work in the city either had to suffer long delays in their cars or leave shortly after daybreak.
We got the four-lane roadway because Cricket World Cup was coming. We did not see the increase in vehicular traffic but these days, cars are a dime a dozen. Everyone is getting one and there is simply not enough space. Parking in the city is a nightmare and I am certain that anyone who establishes car parking is going to get very rich in a short time.
I remember the talk about a parallel roadway leading to East Bank Demerara. The planners said that some people would have been asked to vacate the land they occupied. Then someone talked about overpasses and the like. I now realize that we are a nation of dreamers. We talk about plans and the reporters, recognizing how nice these plans sound, rush to print.
People like me then read these reports and dream. I have stopped dreaming. I have convinced myself that if the roadways are to come then they would. Dream or no dream.
I am forced to remember way back in 1974 when Forbes Burnham decided to make the push for hydro electricity. Nearly 40 years later there was another push. I know that I am going to be linked to the criticisms of Makeshwar Fip Motilall but I was all excited when he came and talked about this grandiose plan to give hydro power to Guyana.
He is no longer going to provide hydroelectricity but I still remember the plans. I was one who wrote copious pieces on the benefits to be derived. Fip disappointed me and he did not have the courtesy to inform me that he had failed in his pursuit. I got a tongue lashing from my friend Winston Brassington, who called me myopic.
Indeed, there is none so blind as he who would not see. Some people see things coming and take evasive action while others do what old Guyanese would say, see trouble in broad daylight then try looking for it with fire stick by night.
Fip, it seems, is one of these problems. He could not deliver on the hydro; he is not known to be a success at any undertaking but he is now being given a massive road contract. I wish him every success because in the end, my money is at stake.
My money is also at stake at City Hall. Everything there seems to be falling apart. Last week, I heard what was nothing but a shocking announcement; that workers would not be paid last month. Had it been April 1, I would have said that someone was pulling a fast one. But obviously, there was no money to pay staff.
The government contributed $40 million. The staff has been paid but what would happen in the coming months? A budget was recently passed. Was the budget presented without money? The garbage contractors threatened strike action because they say they are owed $70 million.
Fortunately, I live where there is no garbage pile and if the contractors strike I would not be affected, at least not in the short term. So I wonder what is happening at City Hall. I remember the days when City Hall managed its own garbage collection. Surely it did not cost as much.
In the drive to modernize it shut down Old Smokey, scrapped the garbage trucks and now it is left with nothing but strike threats and lots of cussing.
Between the roads and City Hall, I do not know which would cause me the most pain.

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