‘Virgin lands’ to open as decision finalised to build all-weather road at No. 58 Village

Jul 06, 2021 News

By Malisa Playter Harry

Kaieteur News – Early this year, during one of Minister Zulfikar Mustapha’s visit to Berbice, he had announced that Cabinet had given the green light for the design and construction of an all-weather road stretching from the Corentyne Highway straight on to the Canje Creek. There were a number of consultations with farmers and Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, had visited with a team to conduct assessments on where the road should be situated.

Minister, Juan Edghill (second from right) in the company of Ministers, Ashni Singh and Zulfikar Mustapha, and Regional Officials.

There were considerations between two locations, No. 52 and No. 8. A further consultation exercise was conducted at No. 36 Village on Saturday with Minister Mustapha, Dr. Ashni Singh – the Minister responsible for Finance, Minister Edghill, regional officials and farmers. During the consultation, they offered their input for the final decision on where the road would be constructed.
With an all-weather road in place, it is expected that new and “virgin lands” will be opened for farmers. However, during the recent consultation a number of farmers argued that the best location would be at No. 52 Village since there are more lands available at that location. On the other hand, there were farmers in favour of using the No. 58 location.
Minister Edghill in providing clarity and explaining the practicality of where the road is likely to take form, stated that his ministry, together with the cooperation of the regional administration, the Agriculture Ministry and stakeholders, have been engaged in field investigations and continuous consultations. He said he is ready at this point to move efforts apace for the construction of the road. “We want to ensure that everyone is on board of where we are putting the road,” the Minister said.

Nand Persaud’s CEO, Mohindra Persaud (standing), makes a point.

Edghill while addressing the farmers stated that he and his team have examined the No. 52 road and the No. 58/59 dam but were also advised that there is another stretch of road in the No. 58 area (57/58). He added that with the aim of opening new lands, “we want expansion in all forms of agriculture and you can’t have expansion if you don’t open up new lands. The intent is that we will build a road from the Corentyne Highway, all the way to the Canje Creek, it may have to be done in phases and then possibly to get to other lands over the Canje Creek.”
He added that the focus is mainly on getting the road from the Corentyne Highway to Canje Creek done.
According to Edghill too, the aerial and ground assessments were done on both dams (58/59 and 57/58) and the beneficiaries “will practically be the same.” However, Minister Edghill said that he was advised that “when you reach the Seaforth Canal on the 58/59 dam … there is a possible alignment on the 58/59 that can carry you further down and when you get to a forested area you have to open. When you go down the 57/58 road you don’t have that same opportunity, my engineers have confirmed to me that at the Seaforth Canal we don’t necessarily have to build a bridge, we can use concrete culvert which would cut the cost because there is no boat traffic so we can use the culverts to control water flow.”
He further detailed that the 57/58 dam has a wider stretch while at the 58/59 dam is narrow. Edghill said that “in order to build roads we must get drainage, if I have to use money to do revetment and put in some form of infrastructure to prevent slippage you get less road. At the 58/59 dam, you don’t have the width to have enough shoulders so you have to do some form of revetment to get the width to get the road. At 57/58 the road is broader and we can probably accommodate some shoulders but ultimately we want to arrive at a decision that fits into our developmental priorities and have the buy in of the people who will be the beneficiaries.”
Based on the assessment conducted, this publication was informed that a decision was made for the road to be built at No. 58. A decision on the exact location, however, is yet to be made.
“Out of the billion dollars to build the farm to market roads, we will do a design for $750M in the 2021 budget and because the No. 52 road is already very heavily used, that gives access to a number of farmers. We will do a design for 2021 that will accommodate some works up to $250 million,” Minister Edghill said.
However, rice farmer and President of the Rice Producers Association, Lekka Rambrich, argued that the best place to have the road built is at No. 52 as he asked “can somebody show us where the new lands that that road will open Minister?” The Minister in response said that based on an aerial view that was done by consultants, “beyond the cattle savannah there is forest (and) we have to get to that forest and clear out the forest for new lands.” After some back and forth, Rambrich was still not in agreement with the choice of location (No. 58) and told the Minister “I wish you well,” to which Minister Edghill responded “thank you.”
Hundreds of farmers are expected to benefit from the new all-weather road.
On Saturday too, Consultations were held for the approval of an airstrip proposed by Nand Persaud and Company Ltd. “Our intent is to have an airstrip because of the expansion of agriculture lands and for the benefit of farmers…sometimes farmers can’t spray on time, can’t throw the fertilizers on time because they have to wait for workers,” said Chief Executive Officer of Nand Persaud and Company, Mohindra Persaud. He added, “We started the process for the airstrip about six years ago and we expect very soon that we can close the gap.” Persaud in 2019 had told the media that he was still awaiting the green light to complete an unfinished airstrip at No. 36 Village, Corentyne. He said that he was informed that the application is with the Defence board, which fell under the Ministry of Presidency at the time.
The CEO had stated that he had spent over $25 million on the airstrip before works were halted. During Saturday’s consultations, the farmers were in support of having the airstrip completed at No. 36 to facilitate aerial spraying for farmers.