Poor maintenance of No. 63 Beach

Apr 24, 2012 Letters

---

 

 

DEAR EDITOR,
This letter is a letter of great concern, since it deals with people who have authority over the No. 63 Beach and are doing what they feel like, not what they are expected to do or should I say, have to do as it relates to finance and management of this prestigious beach.
The authoritarian beach management committee, who also shakes hands with NDC 52-74 and the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce, collected donations from the people entering No.63 Beach on Easter Monday. Are President Donald Ramotar and Acting Tourism Minister Mr. Irfaan Ali, aware of this?
I thought the last committee was dismissed of collecting money (donations) from people, how come this time it is being allowed? I don’t think that the President or Tourism Minister are aware of this since they came to the beach after 12 (noon), but if so be the case (that these two prominent figures know of this serious matter that transpired) for what purpose were these funds collected?
To be pocketed for the committee? Since they collected previous years and nothing has been done with the funds. These workers were instructed by the beach management committee to tell the public coming to the beach on that grand day that they are collecting money to maintain 63 Beach for cleaning purposes.
The committee also charged concessionaires, as in previous years, to vend on the beach Easter Monday – various amounts as usual, i.e. From $2000, $5000, $10 000 to the most $25000. Where is this money going every year? And anyway, I have no idea why they are charging people to come to the beach. They want to say for beach cleaning purposes, whereas the NDC 52–74 is budgeted every year for five workers to clean the beach, so I have no idea why the beach management committee is collecting money. Also the UCCCI (Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce and Industry) collected US$14,000 for the beach, via USAID, and nothing much has been done, just a few signboards. No extra beach rangers doing any cleaning.
Well, nothing of the sort has been done so far, since the beach cleaners took nearly two (2) weeks to clean major spots of the beach and also, instead of plugging the money into getting the beach clean in a prompt manner (since 63 Beach is regarded an international tourism hot spot), the committee only had two (2) persons employed most of the time to clean the mass amount of garbage left on the beach after Easter Monday.
Is this fair treatment? Are equality and human rights being exercised here? With all that trash left over from the 63 Beach Easter Monday fête, and the money they collected, they were supposed to “double bank” the work, i.e. employ (ten) 10 beach rangers to start picking up the trash from both ends of the beach and let them meet at a midpoint when their task is done.
This procedure would have taken a day or two, since here in this situation you have a labour force to get the job done in a neat and timely manner. I believe the vendors feel that they pay money to sell on the beach, in order to assist in cleaning up their spot. But look at what has happened – only two (2) workers with a mass amount of garbage.
Nevertheless, all vendors, including mobile carts/vans, should be responsible for their garbage as a means of volunteering to keep the beach clean, especially the ones that sell every Sunday on the beach. The beverage giants on grand holidays should promote a clean environment on the beach by having many bins placed around them. The public should stop littering too, since the beer bottles they scattered carelessly across the beach left endless shards of glass strewn across the beach that could cut tyres and feet.
As for the entrance road, the beach management committee again breached sea defence, even though I warned them about taking sand from the beach, and especially the sandbanks that protect us they have eroded by dipping sand from these vital areas and topped up a few potholes that now have flattened again due to the mass amount of vehicles entering 63 Beach on Easter Monday.
I know I have been protesting for the 63 Beach entrance road through various media, and the small effort that the committee has done, I will not call that a job well done because we, the public, still need a proper access towards the beach. Also, people were marooned in the middle of the beach Easter Monday since the high tide engulfed the 63 entrance and 60 exit. They had no choice other than to escape via the Sunsplash Resort compound, whereas if the NDC would have made the 62 midpoint access a sweet escape from the tides, this would have helped people who got stuck, scared, and vowed to never return.
The point I am getting at here is, where is the money going? Who is aware of this money? Why is money being taken from the public for no valid reason? Who will be held accountable at the end of the day? Why is a financial statement unavailable? Why is access to information hard to retrieve? Why can’t the public take a look at the outline of projects and plans of 63 Beach through the necessary agencies involved with the beach, if something fishy isn’t going on?
Through the grapevine, I was told that there will be a meeting concerning forming a new 63 Beach management committee on Sunday April 29th at Albion, where the president will be discussing other issues at hand in Berbice, but only Chamber members will be allowed to this meeting. Since when are the chamber people alone in charge of the beach? Why can’t the public be aware of the beach affairs and why can’t one of us business people in the area be chosen to manage the beach? Why can’t the locals in the area be a part of the committee and serve as stakeholders since they live in the area and want to participate in beach affairs but are not invited to do so?
I know of strategic ways the beach can make money in order to maintain it, but that is if the government agrees that money should not be taken from the public to enter 63 Beach and feels that I am worthy of being the new chairperson of the 63 Beach management committee, whereby I would enforce better beach management and maintenance, i.e. beach rangers, dump truck, garbage bins, access roads made, etc.
We need to put the right people in strong positions to achieve the best results.
Ebony Narpatty (Brijbassi)

---

---