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Residents of Bee Hive,Oakland Athletics Matt Joyce Jersey, East Coast Demerara, are crying foul over the destruction left behind by contracting firm BK International following the completion of sea defence works in their community.The contracting firm has removed all of its equipment from the area. It has also removed temporary infrastructure that facilitated work on the sea defence even after destroying that which existed before for the benefit of residents.The sea defence works were commissioned in 2009 and were scheduled to be completed in November last year.The situation has left a bitter taste in the mouths of the residents who are now forced to park their vehicles on the public road, a good distance from the security of their yards.Two of the main bones of contention are a bridge that provided the residents with the only access to their homes across a drainage canal that separates their homes from the Main East Coast Demerara Highway.The residents also complain about the destruction caused to residents’ homes as a result of the vibration from the heavy duty vehicles of the contracting company.The bridge leads into a road that provides easy access to the area where sea defence works were carried out by the contracting company under a European Union project.However the bridge could not accommodate the heavy machinery used by the company, so another facility was created to enable the huge trucks with boulders to cross the drainage canal.But according to residents, a few months into the sea defence works,Yan Gomes Jersey, one of the company’s trucks fell into the canal and in pulling it out,Tampa Bay Rays Wilson Ramos Jersey, the company’s machines reportedly damaged the original bridge, rendering it useless.The residents were not too angry then, since the new facility, which was built by the contracting company for its heavy duty vehicles, was also accessible to them.However,Baltimore Orioles Michael Bourn Jersey, when the project came to an end and the company removed its equipment from the area, it also took with it the temporary culvert it had erected to enable vehicles to cross the drainage canal en route to their work site.This has angered residents who are convinced that BK International is not being a good corporate citizen.Even the road that was used has been left to the mercy of the weather, making it sometimes impassable for residents.According to one resident, when the sea defence project was commissioned, Works Minister Robeson Benn had pledged to ensure that any damage done as a result of the works would be repaired.“De Minister promise we dat dem gon repair de damage but dat was only word-a-mouth,” one resident stated.They claimed that they have approached the company with a view to getting the old bridge reconstructed but the response has not been encouraging.“We used to treat dem workers good,Brett Cecil Jersey, good, even cook food fuh dem when dey de wukkin here and look how dem lef we,” another resident told this newspaper.The area where BK International removed the temporary bridge they built after completing works,San Diego Padres Erick Aybar Jersey, leaving the damaged bridge unrepaired.“BK even get ban from using dem other roads in de village because dem bruk it up,” the resident added.Meanwhile,Tampa Bay Rays Tommy Hunter Jersey, what is worse,Trevor Cahill Jersey, is the damage to properties caused by the constant traffic of heavy duty equipment.In one case seen by this newspaper,Trevor Plouffe Jersey, several concrete columns of a house were split while a huge chunk of concrete plaster was torn from a wall.This is in addition to several drains that the residents said were deliberately blocked by the contractor during the sea defence works.The residents are planning to meet with officials of the European Union as well as the Ministry of Public Works to secure a proper solution to the situation. |
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