Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton has railed into the Government over poorly constructed roads in the country, and has called on the Government to accept fault.

Mr. Norton’s statement today came in wake of the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, complaining in Suriname about the state of one of the roads he traversed during his Guyana visit on Thursday.

“We almost all had concussions, because the plane – the road was so bad – it was terrible – they paid these people to build this road, and then they bring their workers.  They bring their workers; they don’t hire you, they bring their workers in to do all the work.  And then – or they want you to borrow a bunch of money and then they hold it over your head…They were better off with a dirt road then the road we were just on”, Rubio complained.

At a press conference today, while singling out the Heroes Highway, the Opposition Leader said reminded that the 4-lane road was built just over three years ago.

He said contracts for the road were handed out to persons closely aligned with the governing party. He said the PPP must take accountability for its adctions.

“The Heroes Highway was constructed by 12 contractors that are favorites of the PPP regime,” Norton said.

The records show that the contract for the construction of the road was awarded in 2021 to 12 contractors – GuyAmerica Construction Inc., V. Dalip Enterprise, (JV) Colin Talbot Contracting Services and Eron Lall Civil Engineering Works, S. Jagmohan Construction and General Supplies Inc., H. Nauth and Sons, JS Guyana Inc., (JV) VALS Construction and AJM Enterprise, China Railway First Group Company, Aronco Services Inc., Ivor Allen, (JV) Puran Brothers Disposal Inc. and Khemraj Nauth Contracting Services.

Norton said he agrees with the US Secretary of State’s conclusion that the road was poorly constructed, adding that he had long highlighted the many defects during his budget presentation.

In his presentation, he had described the road as “an abortion road,” contending then that it reflected corruption and incompetence.

“The Government must take full responsibility for the construction disaster they call Heroes Highway, and correct the misinformation that is in the public domain. The Secretary of State must be made aware that it is not the worse that the regime has built, Schoonord to Crane Road is worse,” Norton said.

The Government has not issued an official statement in response to the US Secretary of State’s comments on the roads here and him blaming China for the state of the road, although it was constructed by local contractors.

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