President Bharrat Jagdeo has issued a call for the Region Ten Council and the Mayor & City Council of Linden to pool their resources and work towards regaining the confidence of the residents.
He made the call at a press briefing last evening at the Watooka Lodge after hours of meetings with several interest groups in the area. It was his third visit in two weeks to Linden which had been besieged by protests over the collapse of the power and water supply systems.
Jagdeo, who stayed overnight in Linden, earlier in the day visited Silvertown where he examined drainage and irrigation problems in that area and also the West Watooka area where residents are complaining about land distribution.
After the visits, he had hours of meetings with religious leaders and the recently formed Linbridge Community Committee, the group which was responsible for blocking the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge for several weeks, and other representatives from various groups.
He was forced to cut short the press briefing after he was informed of severe flooding in the back street of Rainbow City.
The problem is said to have originated from poor engineering work and as a result whenever it rains the street floods.
Up to 8:45 pm he was reported to have been wading through several feet of water, which was also in homes and listening to the residents' concerns.
It is understood that it rained for a few hours yesterday and the area was flooded as a result.
At the briefing he expressed pleasure at the reopening of the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge last weekend and the fact that the situation in the town had returned to some normality.
The water and light problems, which were the main cause of the weeks-old protest by residents, remain the same.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of Linden Mayor Stan Smith who he said was absent from most of his meetings and visits except for one.