-thanks to the provision of key infrastructure and services
EFFORTS to improve the quality of life of the people of Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) is an ongoing goal of the Regional Administration. Chairman of the Region, Senor Bell, said providing services to the Region, which is 7,700 sq miles in size and split in two by the Ebini Mountain Range, is very challenging.

Senor Bell, Chairman of the Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) Regional Development Council.

But, he said, his Council was happy to say that the provision of infrastructure and services have contributed to a dramatic improvement in the quality of life for the average Region Eight citizen over the past few years.

He cited, the Region has successfully executed for the benefit of its residents the upgrading of schools and health facilities, thereby causing many settlements to become villages; the establishment of a road link, hitherto nonexistent, with all the communities in the Siparuni sub-region; and the introduction of solar power in some areas.

But as he told the Guyana Chronicle in a recent interview, there’s yet more work to be done. “Much remains to be done,” was how he put it.

Bell, who is a lifelong resident of the Region, said that the lack of employment opportunities, especially for the school leavers, is a major source of concern.

“We need to do more work on cottage industries. We can harness the many waterfalls in the Region, nearly three thousand of them, for mini hydro-electricity plants, which can power water pumps and revolutionise agriculture,” he said.

He is also concerned about the dietary needs of residents in the Siparuni sub-region, since poultry and meat are very expensive for the residents, particularly those in the Pakaraima plateau area.

He hinted that the Region was looking at the possibility of introducing aquaculture into this sub-region at affordable prices so as to improve the protein intake of the residents.

Good dry-weather road in Region Eight but tricky in a flash-flood as this driver found out. No one was injured when this bus ran off the road in a recent accident en route to Lethem near Mahdia.

He was however quick to add: “Yes, many problems remain to be tackled, but my Council believes that we can truly say that we have made significant progress in improving the quality of life of residents, in both the north and south, despite the constraints.”

He said an achievement that is a source of pride to the region is the establishment, by the Administration, of a 287-mile-long road linking all the villages on the northern side of the Region, and that is the North Pakaraimas.

This fair-weather road, he said, has proven to be of great benefit to residents in the north, who previously had no such means of getting around and acquiring goods and materials from the Coastland by road.

Though the road is what is referred to as a dry-weather road, it enhances transportation access, thereby reducing the cost-of-living significantly, as it enables easy transport for goods and services and other essential materials into the communities, as well as aid in the export of food to other areas.

“The cost by air is $165 per pound from Georgetown to anywhere in the sub-region.

Rice landed by air costs $25,000 per bag, and this is just rice. Flour is even more expensive, and so is sugar. A teacher’s salary is about $35,000 to 45,000 per month, so you can well imagine what a great benefit this roadway is to the residents in the north,” he said.

As a result of this road,” Bell said, “we are normally able to take ironmongery, cement and building materials from Georgetown up to these villages at a greatly reduced cost.”

Prior to the implementation of a road programme in the Region, he said, there had been no such road linkage.

The Regional Administration Complex at Mahdia, seat of administration for Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni)

Bell, who previously served as Regional Chairman under the People’s National Congress (PNC) before crossing the floor, credited former Local Government Minister, Mr Harry Persaud Nokta, with being the pioneer of the road programme at reference.

“Success with the vital link was achieved with my groundwork and Minister Nokta’s backing,” he said.

Noting that there are 19 villages in the north (Mahdia is in the south), he said the RDC (Regional Democratic Council) had ensured that each had, over the past eight years, benefitted from over $30M worth of developmental works, inclusive of the provision of schools, health outposts, radio sets, outboard engines and even All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs).

Noting that as a result of the success they’ve had in the past, they are now in the process of identifying three new settlements to be upgraded to villages, Bell said by way of explaining how the upgrading process works:

“As long as you have a health outpost, a school, and a teachers’ quarters, you move from a settlement to a village.”

Bell expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Sam Hinds and UNICEF, the former for helping the RDC to provide solar power generated electricity to some areas in the north, and the latter for helping further the Council’s programme, particularly in the area of health care provision.

The RDC is currently spending some $107M on capital works, which include the construction of bridges, primary schools, and teachers’ quarters in both the north and south areas of the Region.

In the south, the District Hospital at Madhia will benefit from an X Ray Unit and an upgraded mortuary under this year’s programme.

Bell said that due largely to the increased access gained with the 287-mile link to the north, he was pleased to report that the capital works programme for 2009 will be completed by early September of this year.