Jackson creek, Upper Corentyne residents pleading for electricity and water

By Malisa Playter-Harry

Residents of the small village of Jackson Creek, Upper Corentyne are pleading with those in authority to provide electricity and water.

News Room visited the area recently and spoke to the frustrated residents who highlighted that the village lacks the basic necessities for many years now.

According to one resident, Haseena Ali, who has been living in the village for more than 20 years, the source of electricity for her is solar energy or the use of a gasoline generator. She said the Solar Panels were provided by the previous government after persons made appeals to have electricity in the area.

The frustrated resident told News Room “dem always telling we that we gon get it and on to now we can’t get it”. The woman stated that having electricity will make her happier, “we will get to use appliances like microwave and fan and so on, but we can’t get that now”.

Another resident stressed that the only source of water is from a pipe located on the road and the trench which located not too far away. She told this news entity  that before they received the pipe they would normally wait on the trench water to raise at a certain level then fill their buckets.

The trench water is used for bathing and sometimes cooking when water cannot be sourced from the town which is miles away. The resident disclosed that only recently herself and other villagers, after venturing to the GWI office located at Chesney Village on the lower Corentyne that they were given the one source to water.

Meanwhile, she said they were told by the Guyana Power & Light that the residents will have to come together to pay for a transformer costing approximately $800,000. She pointed out that most of the residents there are  poor and cannot afford to join with others in an effort to pay for the transformer.

It was also alleged that government officials have not visited the area to listen to their plight.

They are pleading with the relevant authorities to look into their situation as soon as possible.