President Irfaan Ali on Saturday continued consultations on his model community initiative, presenting residents of New Amsterdam with proposals for the upgrading of the town’s roads, drainage, utilities, recreational spaces and vending facilities.
A video of part of the consultation, uploaded to the President’s Facebook page, showed that the proposals were developed following a mapping and condition survey of the town by an inter-ministerial and interdisciplinary team.
Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh, told the gathering that the initiative was intended to improve the overall quality of life in the community.
“We want your community to be livable and for you to love living in your community,” Singh said. “We want people to find peace in their community. For the community to be their place of joy, their sanctuary of peace, of upliftment, of hope.”
He said New Amsterdam’s history, cultural diversity, architecture and layout provided a foundation on which a strong, resilient and sustainable community could be built.
The proposed interventions include clearing road shoulders and drains of garbage and other encumbrances, upgrading roads, bridges, lighting, utility poles and cables, and constructing or rehabilitating sidewalks and walkways.
The government is also proposing landscaping and streetscaping works, the rehabilitation of green spaces and sporting grounds, and upgrades to municipal markets and other commercial hubs.
Singh said provision would be made for roadside vendors to be moved to designated locations but stressed that the exercise was not intended to displace them.
“The objective is not to go and remove roadside people,” he said. “The objective is to place them into places that are hygienic, safe, attractive and so on.”
According to Singh, designated vending areas would provide safer and more orderly spaces for vendors while offering shoppers greater convenience.
The survey identified at least 235 locations where construction material or waste was being stored on parapets and 148 locations where garbage was found on road shoulders. Derelict vehicles and roadside vending locations were also mapped.
Singh said that physical improvements alone would not be enough to maintain the proposed standard.
“Maintaining this pleasant, world-class community environment will also require some kind of cultural and behavioural change on the part of our citizens,” he said.
Proposed road works include resurfacing, standardised signs and road markings, pedestrian crossings, speed bumps, concrete drains and, where space permits, sidewalks or hardened shoulders. Conceptual images of planned improvements to Benjamin Street, Theatre Alley, Fifth Street and other areas were displayed during the presentation.
President Ali, commenting on the state of the utility network, said the survey had identified 200 poles requiring replacement or reinforcement.
“When you’ve got the old poles falling down, I don’t know why they’re tying back the old poles to the new poles,” he said.
Singh later disclosed that Ali had instructed that redundant and low-hanging cables be removed. The administration is also proposing the wider installation of streetlights and smart security cameras.
According to Singh, the cameras would form part of the expansion of the “Safe City” programme into a countrywide smart-security system. He said Ali had instructed that a large number of additional cameras and camera sites be established along major thoroughfares and in urban centres.
The town’s drainage network was also mapped, with particular attention being paid to the interlot drains, which Singh said were frequently clogged by vegetation, garbage and silt. Three reinforced-concrete designs are being considered, depending on the width, location and function of each drain.
Fire hydrants are also to be installed at strategic points throughout the town. Singh said the government wanted to end the practice of firefighters having to search for trenches or other open water sources during emergencies.
The consultation did not include a projected cost or a timetable for completing the proposed works.
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