Every time I see WASA's advertisements boasting of improved delivery, I feel for the people of Habakkuk Gardens, Las Lomas and the residents of upper Mundo Nuevo and Lee Kam Trace in Mamoral, who not only do not have a reliable truck-borne water supply, but do not even have water lines running to their communities. In all cases they can point to less populous neighbouring areas that are better served.
The residents of upper Mundo Nuevo and Lee Kam Trace in Mamoral in particular, have told me of their tireless and thus far futile appeals to WASA and their MP, Jairam Seemungal. The homeowners of Habakkuk Gardens, McLean Extension and McLean Trace have even gone so far as to write the Prime Minister who, July last year, referred them to the Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration.
The Las Lomas, Mundo Nuevo and Mamoral residents need not only water, but water lines to their homes. The irony is that their MP is weekly boasting about providing land and infrastructure to the landless, but has thus far been unable to assist residents who bought their lands, built homes and created viable communities, albeit without the provision of basic infrastructure of water and drainage for which they are now clamouring.
I was asked by the residents to add my voice to their plight in the hope that I could bring attention to their several pleas, which could lead to some long-promised action to bring water to their communities. Providing water to these communities would, I suspect, cost far less than either the NGC or WASA advertising budget.
Maxie Cuffie,
Prospective PNM Candidate for La Horquetta/Talparo