Preserve the Linden River Front

Digicel, the communication company operating in Guyana and the Caribbean, is funding of the construction of a Rehabilitation Centre in Linden for “Children with Special Needs”. The Company commended for its interest in, and support. Its funding of the construction of the proposed Centre sets an example of corporate engagement that other companies should emulate.

The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the LM&TC has approved the construction of the Facility on the Linden River Front on the Eastern Bank of the Demerara River.

The Linden River Front, between the Egbert Benjamin Exhibition and Conference Centre (EBECC) and the Lands and Survey Commission office, for various reasons, should not be the location for the Rehabilitation Centre. The River Front is a unique environment and should be preserved for activities and structures that maximize its special social, cultural and ecological features.

IMC Chairman has asked for, and obtained the IMC’s blessing and approval to move ahead with preparatory works. No architectural or construction plans were available. Without the “plans” there is no basis for preparatory works.

The absence of the “plans” suggests that the request and approval are both uninformed actions. Without the “plans”, there is no sense of how the various construction, infrastructure, environmental issues associated with the identified location are being addressed. And, there are issues.

The issues include appropriate land-use, drainage, parking, traffic, flooding and noise; the uninformed decisions by the IMC also raise the issue of governance and consultation.

It is doubtful that the design-criteria and operation needs of the Rehabilitation Centre require that it be located on the River Front; there are many other vacant properties controlled by the INC, RDC and the Central Government that would suffice. For example, there is the existing Handicap Centre in Retrieve.

The fact that Digicel requested the site does not mean that the community must drop every other consideration to meet the needs of the company.

Over the years there has been a steady increase in the public’s appreciation of the economic, cultural, recreational and tourism potential of the River Front; the River Walk and the Egbert Benjamin Centre (EBECC ) are examples of developments that suited the River Front and have been welcomed by the residents.

The proposed location for the Rehabilitation Centre has other problems: Access to the location would impede traffic on the “round-about” and could potentially endanger the parents and students; often there is pounding of water and flooding in the “round-about” during even moderate rainfall; noise from activities from the EBECC can disrupt the Centre’s activities; the location, as with the EBECC, experiences flooding along the river bank at high tides.

The design-criteria for Bandstand Recreation Park (including the EBECC) stated that the activities must be family-centred and maximize views of the Demerara River. In this regard a miniature golf-course was proposed for the area currently identified for the Rehabilitation Centre. This was not accepted because the land was “promised” to the Legionnaires. Even then it was noted that a “building" for that group did not need to be on the River Front. Now six years later, the IMC Chairman is using the very argument to justify the “breaking” of the promise to the Legionnaires.

There is also the question of consultation. The natural stakeholders, parents, teachers, and community groups, engineers were not consulted on the selection of the site. Digicel contacted the Ministry of Education and subsequently the IMC and RDC Chairmen. This does not constitute adequate consultation with the community. Effective local governance would certainly support some attempt at consultation with the stakeholders beyond the Local Government Agencies.

In response to the objections raised above two IMC Councillors opined “you people always find a reason to stop development and chase away investors” and the IMC Chairman stated that the IMC will go ahead with the project at the proposed location on the River Front.