Gov’t vows to build tower at Plaisance

Apr 06, 2013 News

– Luncheon says administration bewildered by protests

The government is now bent on returning to the very spot in Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, where protests by residents forced workers to abandon the setting up of a telecommunications tower.
Protests by the residents had forced the Chinese company Huawei off the community’s playground.
The hole which was dug by the workers to set up the tower has been refilled by the residents, but yesterday the government said it intends to dig another hole at that very spot.

Government is bent on using the Plaisance Community Centre ground to set up the telecommunications tower.

“Government will not allow this project to be hijacked and to be treated so irresponsibly,” the government’s main spokesperson, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said yesterday.
Senior officials of the government had earlier indicated that after protests by residents of Plaisance, the setting up of the e-governance tower would be shifted to another location. This was indicated by the head of the project, Alexei Ramotar. His comments came after a protest by residents.
However, Luncheon, speaking at a news conference, indicated that the government wants to resolve the problem, but resolving the problem does not mean shifting locations.
“The e-governance team would be seeking to resolve the matter…I don’t believe I could contemplate another site identified as resolving the matter. Our intention in having the matter resolved is to have the matter resolved as planned,” Luncheon stated.
“If this matter is resolved to our mutual satisfaction, we’ll have a new hole dug,” he added.
That decision was taken Thursday when President Donald Ramotar met with his government ministers during the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Through the e-governance project, towers have to set up from Moleson Creek to Charity. One of the locations was Plaisance, and in the area used as a community centre and playfield.
Dr Luncheon said the government was at a loss over the reason for the protest.
He stated that all the necessary permission was sought and granted by the authorities of the village. However, he could not say if the government gained permission from the elected representatives or from the interim management committee which was appointed by the government itself.
Alexei Ramotar had told Kaieteur News that his team would be seeking an alternative site for the tower.
He had said that the decision to site the tower at Plaisance had many considerations, one of them being the decision to supply the community with a wireless service, since Plaisance would have been one of the hotspots for the e-governance programme.
The e-governance project is one that is expected to facilitate the linking of Government’s fibre optic cable that has been laid from Lethem to Linden, to the coastline, to enable internet access.
As a result, 55 towers have to be constructed in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Nine and 10. Luncheon said that the first tower for Region Four is what was being set up at Plaisance, until protests by the community halted works.
The ground at Plaisance allows for fundraising activities and shows and also caters for school sports and a number of recreational activities for both the young and old. The residents had said they have been honestly utilising and caring the facility ever since it was handed over to them in the 1960s.