PROBLEMS ‘GALORE’ IN HASLINGTON NEW SCHEME

Jan 17, 2017 News

“WE ALL WANTED CHANGE AND NOW WE GET IT, LOOK AT THE CONDITION OF IT”

BY BRUSHELL BLACKMAN

The Haslington New scheme is located on the East Coast of Demerara, aback of Haslington village. It’s sandwiched between Enmore village to the east and Golden Grove to its west. The Scheme was formed more than ten years ago and still lacks some very basic facilities. It is bedevilled by a long list of problems.

Potholes
The residents of this community, which at an estimate has about 1000 households, say that they have been forgotten for more than a decade and no one from the Ministry of Housing has visited during that period to listen to their plight, let alone to resolve them.
One of the major issues affecting this community is the potholes. There are ten cross streets and each has at least six huge potholes. Travis Luke, a resident, said that he can only recall the roads being repaired once in the ten years that he is living there. “They come one time and put some sand and stone on the road and that didn’t even last a month.”
Because of where the scheme is situated most resident use taxis to get in and out and the taxi drivers are complaining about the damage being done to their vehicles. One driver, who is also a resident of the community, said he spends money weekly replacing damaged and bent tyre.
The man said they now have to choose which streets to traverse based on their state. This, he recognised, is not fair to the residents who will still need to walk some distance despite paying a $200 fare.

Water and Street Lights
The quality of the water leaves much to be desired. Residents complained that a clear flow of tap water is like a lottery and they have to be lucky to have it. This newspaper was shown the evidence of the rust-saturated water. It’s so bad it has left a permanent stain in one resident’s yard.
The few street lights that are there is as a result of the community pooling its resources to mount those. Most are no longer working and residents are now reluctant to have them fixed. One woman said she always tries to get home before darkness falls in fear of being attacked.

Drainage and Garbage collection
There is street after street with drains that are choking with weed and built up silt, one of the reasons residents say contributes to constant flooding whenever it rains even in increments.
The disgruntled community explained that reptiles have now taken up residence among them. “Alligator and snake live over there,” one woman said, pointing to one of the many empty plots inundated with water.
Additionally, some residents have resorted to burning their garbage in the streets since they cannot afford the $2,000 charge for the service. One shop owner said the situation is getting from bad to worse and there needs to be urgent action.
“WE all wanted change and now we get it, look at the condition of it.”

Recreational Facilities
The plot of land that is supposed to house the playground is infested with weed and vegetation and is now a grazing ground for cattle in the community. Some residents are even dumping their garbage there. The young men in the community are now left to play their game of football on the same street that the taxis traverse, sometimes much to the displeasure of drivers.
Jamal Mansfield, a youth residing there said they are sometimes forced to go to other communities to play any form of sports. “We does go to the other village to play football.”
It should be noted that there isn’t a single community centre or a youth club to engage youths who have free time.
The Ministry of Housing was not sure who was responsible for the scheme. An employee there told me that the scheme is under the purview of the NDC. When she was told that this was not the case this reporter was directed to another department where the people were not sure themselves.
The Grove Haslington Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) admitted that it does not do anything in the scheme. The woman who refused to give her name said that the residents don’t pay tax since the scheme was not handed over by the Housing Ministry to the NDC.
The woman explained that it will be unfair to use taxpayers’ money to do work in the community.

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