RESIDENTS of the Tuschen New Housing Scheme voiced their concerns on Wednesday when the Cabinet outreach targeted their East Bank Essequibo village.
Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali; Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Mr. Donald Ramotar visited them as part of Government’s commitment to reach out and listen to people. The team walked through and held two meetings in the community, as other ministerial groups did in the rest of Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), including at Vergenoegen, Philadelphia, Greenwich Park, Parika/Hydronie and Hubu, also on East Bank Essequibo.
The fan-out concluded in Tuschen New Housing Scheme, with President Bharrat Jagdeo interacting with and addressing scores of people.
Speaking at Tuschen, Ramsammy said the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has always been one that is interactive.
He observed that Guyana is one of few countries in the world where the citizens can meet their President and Ministers regularly.
“There was a time, in Guyana, when people didn’t have that chance but, today, we have an opportunity to meet our Government up front and close,” Ramsammy remarked.
He said the Administration recognises that, in spite of all the huge investments and the good work done, there are still things which make people uncomfortable and affect their lives.
Ramsammy pointed out that many of the problems emerge from within the communities, themselves but the Government has never changed its principles of governing, which is whilst there is need to build the economy, create jobs and build the infrastructure, focus most also be on people’s welfare, education, health, housing, water, and sanitation.
He said that the Government, today, spends about 40 per cent of the total budget in the social sector, on things that affect people’s lives on a daily basis and there are very few other countries in the world which do that.
Ramsammy said, in 1991, the country spent seven per cent in the social sector, as compared to 40 per cent today.

Improvements

He said, in 1991, the budget was only around $19 billion and, today, it is $129 billion, resulting in improvements in education, housing, health and such.
Ramsammy said there has never been more health workers in the history of this country, than now, noting that, in 1990 there were about 90 doctors while, today, more than 400 are registered and, this year, 690 students were accepted into nursing schools.
He acknowledged there is a shortage of health workers because there are about 400 related facilities but he announced that, from Monday, a medex will visit the health post at Tuschen once per week and, from August; the clinic will be fully functional.
“This is our country and we have to make it better for ourselves and we have to make it such that we can be proud of it,” Ramsammy stated, assuring his audience that Government will continue to work with the people every day.
Ramotar recalled that housing was one of the most critical problems in 1992, when people were paying high rents and many families were living together in the same house, which had a social impact.
“I must say that the problems that we have today are far less pressing than the problems that we had then,” he asserted, stating the Government has managed to go a very far way in solving some of the core issues.
“This is part of the general overall direction that the PPP/C Government had from its very beginning,” Ramotar said.
Harking back to social sector spending, it has a beneficial effect on the economy and, therefore, the programme is also a very important aspect of economic development itself.
“As we solve many of these problems, we have to start to look ahead,” he encouraged, urging that, for Guyana to go to the next level, there needs to be some more industrialisation.
In that context, Ramotar mentioned hydropower and scoffed at what he called “some of the terrible criticisms in the media” about it.
He reiterated that this is one very critical area if this country is going to move to the next level of development.
Ramotar said the PPP/C has, in the last 18 years, moved Guyana from being a poor, dependent, backward country to a middle income one.
He also made mention of fibre optic cables and said: “Those are some of the investments that we are making now, so that, very soon, our country can move, at a very rapid rate, create a lot of employment and connect ourselves to the rest of the world.”

Pensioners

Ramotar outlined that the Government spends about $4 billion every year directly on pensioners and $1 billion to help those in unfortunate circumstances.
He said, last year, Government expended $800M on uniforms for schoolchildren and more this year.
“All of these things demonstrate that what is a priority for this Government is not only building the roads or the buildings but it is directly to develop our people so that they can be able to deal with the modern times that we have in the world, so that they can provide a better life for themselves and for their families and, in the process of doing so for themselves, they will be able to develop our country and make it a much better place,” Ramotar explained.
He maintained that this has been the orientation of the PPP, being a party for the working people.
Ali also underscored the importance and benefits of hydropower and fibre optic cables, which saw criticisms from the Opposition.
But he emphasised that the fibre optic cable being brought by Government is going to open up Guyana to huge investment and employment opportunities in call centres.
According to him, Guyana has the distinct advantage in time zone and language and one company, already operating here, has signaled the intention to expand operations to accommodate another 9,000 new jobs.
Ali said Guyana is ranked number three in the world for call centre services although it has a small market.
He revealed that, from January to now, his ministry has received at least 500 applications for house lots from overseas-based Guyanese.
About Region Three, Ali said, at end of this year, Government would have spent more than $6 billion on housing alone and, in Tuschen, more than $1.2 billion at the end of 2009, with contracts presently being executed to the value of more than $330M to benefit 569 new house lots.

Delivered

He said this Government has delivered consistently on its promises.
“Our commitment cannot be questioned,” Ali declared, asserting that their seriousness about development is unquestionable and exhorting residents to work with the Government towards the objective.
“We are here to engage you, to listen to you and to work with you in finding solutions for your problems,” Ali offered.
Some issues raised included about market facilities, drainage, the condition of the main access road, security and the health hut.
Ali said it was decided at a meeting that the tarmac is to be used, during the day, fo
r market purposes with collapsible stands, so that, at the end of the day, the merchandise can be packed up neatly and the place can be utilised for other purposes.
He said it is recognised that such a housing scheme needs hire car services and some parking would be done on one section of the tarmac, temporarily, until it is extended to accommodate hire cars.
Ali reiterated that the eyes and ears of the community are the people who reside there.
Concerning the drainage problem, he said a lot of money was spent on clearing lands but people were not occupying and bush covered the drains and everything else.
He disclosed that the scheme is being enlarged so it would not make sense to do anything with the main road, although it is a priority for Government.
Ali said the hope is that Tuschen will reach the level of development like Diamond Housing Scheme, on East Bank Demerara.
He said a lot of the concerns at the community level are, indeed, very important and that is why, as a party and a government, they have been pushing for local government elections.
A new primary school is being constructed in the community and the outreach team, joined by support staff of various agencies, inspected the new Tuschen well which is being sunk at a cost of about $60M, as well as ongoing works in the Tuschen scheme part of the Low Income Settlement Two programme, that would see a further 660 house lots being developed, with $330M, to benefit approximately 2,600 people.