– Govt. hands over 18 tractors to Regions  8 and 9
EIGHT villages in Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) and five in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) have received donations of small gift tractors from Government.
The 18 were handed over to representatives of the communities by the supplier, Farm Supplies/Genequip, in the presence of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, performing the functions of the Office of President, at the company’s Mc Doom Village, East Bank Demerara premises.
Others who participated in the ceremony on Thursday were Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn; Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Kellawan Lall; Hinterland Coordinator within his Ministry, Mr. Harripersaud Nokta; senior officials of the Ministries; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Mr. Nigel Dharamlall and Chairman of Region Eight, Mr. Senor Bell.
The vehicles, which will improve transportation for people, agricultural produce and goods between villages, by way of the recently established and improved network of roads in the two Regions, were bought for a total of $45M through the Government Hinterland Road Programme.
A further $500,000 is available to each village to help cover fuel and maintenance costs for the tractors over the first 12 months of their operations.
Speakers at the function lauded Nokta, under whose leadership, when he was Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, the roads improvement project begun and has since made the use of tractors and other vehicular transport in Regions Eight and Nine possible.
Mr. Hinds said it was through Nokta that villagers in the Pakaraimas responded to a call for the development of roadways, by cutting trails and then upgrading them to accommodate tractors, four wheel drive vehicles and trucks, during dry weather.
The Prime Minister said it took six years of determined work by the villagers before the first overland Pakaraima Safari could have been undertaken.
He said gifting the tractors to the villagers in the Pakaraimas is in recognition of the hard work they had done in cutting trails and then roads through dense jungle, with nothing but their bare hands.
Nokta recalled that, in the early period of his ministry, the first two tractors sent to Region Eight before the opening of the trails and upgrade of roads  had to travel via Brazil as there was no other route to get them into the Region.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
He is now happy to see that the tractors represent a further development in improving the quality of life within remote hinterland communities.
Benn said the hinterland programme is ongoing with the aim of ensuring that  transportation of goods and services to, from and between the generally remote areas can take place without undue difficulty.
He said that his Ministry is hoping to take a road to the Pakaraima plateau by August this year.
Other speakers were Minister Lall, Dharamlall, who chaired the formal proceedings and Bell.
Bell disclosed that the Village Councils to get the tractors have formed management committees to supervise their use and ensure they are gainfully utilised and properly operated and maintained.
He said the Regional Administration will be overseeing the use of the vehicles through meetings with the Village Councils, at least quarterly.
Bell acknowledged that an immediate benefit of the gifts will be a drop in the cost of transporting goods between villages, from $85 to $20 per pound.
The tractors will be driven to Regions Eight and Nine by drivers from the respective Regions, in batches, beginning today.
Mr. Schelte Van Dijk, of Farm Supplies/Genequip, said the company will provide training and support to the operators to make sure the tractors are properly operated and maintained.