One month after committing to upgrading the Kwakwani airstrip, Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill revealed that construction of the $248 million project is steadily advancing, with 60 per cent of the work complete.
The rehabilitation aims to improve access to the mining and logging village in Region Ten.
The project was previously hindered by persistent rainfall.
Despite the setback, Minister Edghill assured residents recently that once weather conditions improve, work will resume to ensure the timely and safe completion of the project.
He took the opportunity to acknowledge the effort of the local council in securing the site by installing a fence to keep animals off the airstrip.
He also responded to claims posited by the parliamentary opposition regarding the structural integrity of a rotting pipe beneath the airstrip surface.
Minister Edghill clarified that the pipe was examined by the ministry’s engineers. It was determined that only the exposed ends of the pipe showed signs of rust.
“Nobody is building the airstrip under a rotten pipe,” the minister asserted.
“It is the same kind of people who say that we were putting asphalt on mud in Kwakwani…I have been asking people to tell the rest of the country what kind of soil we got here in Kwakwani.”
The public works minister stated that the PPP/C government will not be deterred by “small talk.”
“We got an agenda, and that is to bring development to the people of Guyana,” he emphasised.
Construction work on the 2,500-foot-long by 50-foot-wide airstrip is being undertaken by Associated Construction Services and has a duration period of five months. (Department of Public Information)
