Great Falls residents

12,000 hinterland residents to benefit

Minister Ali told residents that his Ministry has embarked on a $200M housing programme to establish 200 low-income homes in hinterland communities.

The initiative which will be undertaken for the first time in the hinterland region will be executed under the recently launched US$27.9M Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Second LIS programme.

Minister Ali and team inspect a spring at Great Falls

The Ministry wants to ensure hinterland residents have equal access to resources and establishing houses is among its objectives, Minister Ali said.

Various communities are being explored to establish these houses.

Chief Executive Officer, CH&PA Myrna Pitt said consultations are being conducted to examine some of the constraints which affect the communities.

These will be included in the design of the interventions.

“We have to look at issues of providing infrastructure like water which is important and the traditional way of occupancy of land in the hinterland which seems a little more in a separated form rather than in a more homogenous manner. We will have to examine how we can implement that project to ensure that the infrastructure that is to be provided is done in a way that will optimise those services,” Pitt said.

Further outreaches, she said, will be conducted in various hinterland communities to encourage feedback and participation in the design and implementation of the programme.

The Authority and the Amerindian Affairs Ministry will be collaborating closely on the designs and intervention of the programme, she said.

Water sector enhancement
Minister Ali further outlined that more than $150M has been budgeted for the enhancement of the water sector in hinterland communities.

He said the long-term vision for the GWI is to provide community-based water supply to 100 percent of the hinterland population to access water at no more than 300 meters from dwelling quarters.

The GWI’s intention is to install several solar powered systems in approximately 75 Amerindian communities to improve access to safe water.

Water supply sources
The team also inspected several water supply sources in the Great Falls community where the residents noted several concerns as it relates to the quality of water supplied. They offered suggestions on what can be done to improve the supply in the area.

GWI’s, Chief Executive Officer (acting), Yuri Chandisingh said the outreaches being conducted by the Ministry are part of government’s commitment to further the well-being of the hinterland residents through interactive discussions to assess their needs and implement programmes to better the lives of citizens.

Hinterland Manager (interim), Akram Hussain said GWI is exploring possibilities of establishing several water supply sources for the community.

These include the digging and drilling of shallow and conventional wells and the introduction of bio-sand filters to community households to treat water supply.

Over the years, the views and recommendations of Amerindians in matters related to their advancement in every aspect of their lives continue to be a key focus for the administration.