Mobile asphalt plant makes way to Wakenaam – to facilitate $60M in road upgrades

Jul 16, 2019 News

In keeping with its promise to residents of Wakenaam, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, on Friday evening, dispatched a mobile asphalt plant to the Essequibo Island.

The mobile asphalt plant in Wakenaam

Mobile asphalt plant being loa

During a community meeting with residents in Maria Johanna last month, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson committed to ensuring the rehabilitation of the main carriageway of Wakenaam. In merely three weeks, that pledge is becoming a reality.
Minister Patterson told residents, “I have about $60Million in our budget for Wakenaam to fix the main road.”
While noting the largest obstacle to the works is the ongoing rainy season, the Public Infrastructure Minister assured Wakenaam residents that the road upgrades will begin at the commencement of the dry season.
On July 11, the recently reassigned Minister, `Jaipaul Sharma, visited Wakenaam to get a first-hand view of the rehabilitative road works to be executed. Engineers accompanied the Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to acquire measurements of the roads on the island to be rehabilitated.
Speaking with the Department of Public Information (DPI), Minister Sharma noted, “Most of the roads here, would not have been maintained for the past eight to ten years.”
He shared that the mobile asphalt plant will be transported to Leguan at the completion of road upgrades in Wakenaam.
With a population of approximately 10,000 people, Wakenaam will represent the first Essequibo Island to benefit from the recently acquired mobile asphalt plant.