Gov’t in move to drive development in Region 8
Minister Gaskin and others with female students at the Mahdia Secondary School hostel.
Minister Gaskin and others with female students at the Mahdia Secondary School hostel.

THE Ministry of Business’ Department of Tourism will next month hold a tourism workshop with stakeholders in Mahdia to increase involvement in the development of the sector there.
Subject Minister, Dominic Gaskin and a team from the Guyana Office for Investment (GO- Invest) visited Region 8 on Friday to discuss with the Town’s administration and business community, agricultural opportunities and prospects for the upcoming Commercial Exhibition.
The minister and team also visited the Tumatumari Hydro Project which will soon be rehabilitated to provide clean, renewable energy to Mahdia in keeping with the country’s Green State agenda.

In a statement to the media on Monday, the Ministry said Gaskin met with Chairman and members of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and discussed the upcoming Regional Agricultural Commercial Exhibition (RACE), making Mahdia a sustainable economic hub for the region, an upcoming tourism workshop, the economic impact of ongoing and planned infrastructural development, and realising the value that Guyana’s Green State image can add to the economic activity in the Region.

The Minister encouraged the RDC to help identify investment projects for the region based on regional priorities and offered his Ministry’s support in developing, preparing and promoting those projects for potential investors. Meanwhile, Regional Chairman, Bonaventure Fredericks said agriculture is being discussed with a view to putting forward a viable plan for the sector in the region, while Regional Executive Officer (REO), Gavin Gounga spoke of the potential of the region to grow its own food.

Gounga noted too that the region’s experiment with `Irish’ potato and Hill Rice and stressed that other crops that could be cultivated in the sub-region included tomato, turmeric, and cabbage. Additionally, the importance of the newly-formed Mahdia Chamber of Commerce (MCC) to the region’s economic development was underscored and, both the Ministry of Business and the MCC have pledged full support for the upcoming RACE.

At the meeting with the MCC, several issues were brought to the fore including the need for training in tourism management for the Region’s potential to be realised. The need for an affordable electricity supply to businesses was also underscored by the Chamber. Additionally, stakeholders called for measures to be put in place to ensure that businessmen could have their businesses registered and tax compliance done without having to travel to the Essequibo Coast or Georgetown.
All matters raised were addressed by GO-Invest’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Owen Verney.

Meanwhile, Minister Gaskin underscored Government’s commitment to the development of a Green State and explained the benefits the Region could accrue from a global value system that places a high emphàsis on protecting the environment.
He suggested too, that the Green State could add a premium to products from the Region which could offset the high cost of transportation that producers face. The Business Minister also stressed the economic impact that the government’s infrastructure develoment programme will have on Mahdia when better roads are built in and around the community.

The paving of the Linden to Mabura road, Gaskin added, would greatly improve life in the community. Moreover, the Minister spoke of the potential of the Tumatumari Hydro Project when he visited the site to observe the infrastructure. The visit concluded with a ‘walk about’ in the commercial centre of Mahdia where a network of paved roads is in the final stages of construction, and has already brought much relief to local commuters.
The team also visited students of the Mahdia Secondary School who stay at the school’s dormitories. While there, the GO-Invest CEO donated a number of footballs to the students.

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