Highway clean up project gets underway

Dec 01, 2015 News

A number of unemployed residents drawn from all across Linden turned up early yesterday morning at the Mackenzie Five-Corner to be bussed down the Soesdyke/ Linden Highway, where a massive cleanup project

Morian (at right, with paper in hand) calls out the names of persons involved in the clearing exercise.

has begun.
The persons involved in the project included several women, many of whom are single parents.
Most of them expressed satisfaction with the advent of the project, saying that it has come at a most opportune time.
“I’m really glad for this, because I’m not working. I’m a single parent with children to take care of, so I hope that this wouldn’t just be a one-time thing, but something that can happen on a regular basis.
That sentiment was echoed by both men and women, who turned up fully equipped with cutlasses, power saws, rakes and other cleaning implements.
The project which is expected to last for three days would see the workers earning approximately $40,000.
Chairman of Region Ten, Renis Morian, said that the project was the first of three to be executed in the Region before the end of the year.
“We recognize the high unemployment in Region Ten so within the Office of the Chairman, Office of the President and Office of Public Infrastructure, we’re looking for activities to have residents of the Region in the short term, find employment.
This first project is on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, which has been in a bad state for years.
Morian said that following the clearing of the Highway, youths will also be involved in planting trees, for which they would be given a stipend.
He noted that persons were selected from every area across the mining town. He admitted that it was not an easy task as there are so many persons who are unemployed. “It was a tough job selecting 145 people from about 600 people, so what we did was to take a sprinkling from every area, making it as representative as possible.
Other projects currently on stream in the mining town are the road works being carried out by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, GWI, and the Demerara Harbour Bridge with its Bitumen Plant; all of which have hired or will be hiring persons from within the region.
Morian said that over 300 persons will, within the next few weeks, find employment. (Enid Joaquin)