The UNC’s can­di­date for Cunu­pia in the up­com­ing by-elec­tions said he plans to tack­le prob­lems re­lat­ing to in­fra­struc­ture and aban­doned emp­ty lots.

Richard Sukdeo, 65, was giv­en the nod by his par­ty to fill the void left by Van­dana Mo­hit, the for­mer Ch­agua­nas May­or.

Mo­hit gave up her post as coun­cil­lor for the area on the Ch­agua­nas Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion (CBC) to con­test the seat of Ch­agua­nas East in the 2020 Gen­er­al Elec­tion.

Sukdeo, a for­mer pub­lic ser­vant, said he brings a wealth of ex­pe­ri­ence and a lev­el of ma­tu­ri­ty to the CBC.

Sukdeo said he has been ac­tive­ly in­volved in pol­i­tics at the ground lev­el and the con­stituen­cy ex­ec­u­tive lev­el.

He said he wants to mar­ry his ex­pe­ri­ence in the pub­lic ser­vice with his ex­pe­ri­ence in pol­i­tics to con­tin­ue the lev­el of trans­for­ma­tion at the CBC.

He said the ma­jor road­block to bring­ing ser­vices to the com­mu­ni­ty is the lack of fund­ing.

“ We need to get more fund­ing to cater for the ex­pan­sion that is tak­ing place in the bor­ough,” Sukdeo said.

He said the crime was al­so a prob­lem in Cunu­pia.

Sukdeo added the com­mu­ni­ty was deeply con­cerned that Venezue­lans are be­ing used by lo­cal crim­i­nal el­e­ments.

Sukdeo said he was hap­py to be cho­sen as a ma­ture can­di­date by the UNC. He said there is the need to cre­ate a bal­ance of youth and ex­pe­ri­ence in pol­i­tics to en­sure wider voic­es can be heard.

Sukdeo said his plans are to rep­re­sent the peo­ple and he would not suc­cumb to any lev­el of bu­reau­cra­cy or po­lit­i­cal ar­ro­gance at the CBC.

“I am here about the peo­ple’s busi­ness, this is not about me or any­thing. This is about the peo­ples’ busi­ness, get­ting the peo­ple’s busi­ness done, their wish­es, their con­cerns must be giv­en top pri­or­i­ty. This is the work of a coun­cil­lor, I think at the lo­cal lev­el.”

Sukdeo said he has re­ceived many com­plaints about emp­ty lots that may con­tain ver­min and serve as a hid­ing ground for crim­i­nals.

He said the first step would be to en­ter in­to di­a­logue with prop­er­ty own­ers to have them clean it. He said if this does not work he plans on us­ing oth­er mea­sures to en­sure the lots are cleared and main­tained.