Mayor of Linden, Sharma Solomon continues to express his displeasure at the failure of the Ministry of Public Works to engage the Mayor and Town Council and the wider Linden community on the ongoing works on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Earlier today, Works Minister Juan Edghill visited the construction site to meet with contractors and engineers, and to discuss safety measures which could be put in place while construction is ongoing.

In an interview with News Source from his office, Mayor Solomon said some of those discussions should have been held with the Town Council, so that it could have shared the information with the wider community of Linden.

“I think it’s most unfortunate we continue to see this repeated behavior of inconsiderate actions by the government in the name of development. What we see if a fundamental breach of a constitutional obligation by the government to articulate clearly what they are doing as it relates to any decisions that are going impact the lives of Guyanese as outlined in Article 13,” the Mayor noted.

Solomon told News Source that the failure of the Works Ministry to engage the Council and the wider stakeholders has forced the Council to hold its own public engagement with commuters and residents, and listen to their concerns.

“So we have not met with the Minister, it is based on that public pronouncement that we have seen some action. I want persons to appreciate that we have no regret for the fact that we had sounded an alarm of concerns that the road is being done and we have not properly been engaged by the protocol of the Ministry to have a continuous engagement and update and at the time serious concerns are being raised about the state of the road, and the conditions and threats it posed to commuters” Solomon said.

He said he has no regret over raising an alarm for persons to be aware of what is ongoing.

He said commuters have complained that when it rains, slush and craters are noticeable on the highway and when its try, it has been dusty, making it difficult for drivers to navigate.

“So those things the Council found very concerning and we put that public statement we have been engaging with representatives and we want to extend that to the wider stakeholdership for a better engagement”, he said.

Construction works along the highway are expected to last for several months. Many drivers have publicly expressed their concern over the state of the highway during its reconstruction and the damage being done to their vehicles.

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