– Prime Minister Hinds
Prime Minister Sam Hinds has said there can be no doubt that a new Guyana is being built with the many developments taking place in the country.
“We are setting down to building the world that we are thinking about,” he said at a meeting at the conclusion of a Cabinet Outreach to Region Three yesterday. The Prime Minister said Parika is becoming a new town and there is a strong call for the establishment of a high school and updated medical facilities to go with the status of the new town.

“We should be thinking that it is our task to build these things in line with the developments we are making,” the Prime Minister said.

Speaking of the new course that Guyana is charting, the Prime Minister said there is nothing that excites him more than going to the interior and looking at the possibilities for development there.

He also encouraged persons from the community to go and see for themselves the beauty and possibilities that the interior holds.

Speaking of the changes in the power sector, Hinds said the country is many steps ahead from where it emerged, when there were frequent power outages for long periods and when people loudly celebrated with shouts of ‘lights’ when the power came back on.

He stated that there is a US$35 million programme for the overhaul of the transmission and distribution system and there will also be a substation in the East Bank Essequibo area, which will eliminate the occurrences of low voltage.

The Prime Minister said he is pleased with the growth in medium and small scale mining in Guyana, and with the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the Government is working to maintain mining and forestry since it recognizes the employment and investment opportunities in these sectors.

But he said these two activities must be conducted in a sustainable manner. Hinds also said Government will not be abandoning the old economic activities on which the country’s economy is heavily reliant, but will be making them more efficient.
“We can truly say that we are taking responsibility for our own future, and we are building a Guyana in which the features are of our making,” the Prime Minister said.

Host of the meeting, Presidential Adviser on Governance, Gail Teixeira, said Guyana is being talked about in the Diaspora. “Home is the place to be,” she said.
Teixeira, a former Government Minister, said the outreach is Government’s demonstration of inclusive governance and democracy in action.
Speaking earlier at the event, PPP/C General Secretary Donald Ramotar spoke of the need for there to be cheap electricity available if the country’s manufacturing and agriculture processing sectors are to take off.

He said Government is putting the country on the cutting edge of technology with the introduction of a fibre-optic cable. He said this will “take us to the next level of development”.

Ramotar acknowledged that although there are still issues remaining to be dealt with, the PPP/C Government has improved the quality of life of “all the people in the country.”

“We have always stood up for the poor and oppressed, [both while in and out of Government],” Ramotar added.