At Linden handing over…
PRIME Minister Samuel Hinds, performing the duties of the Office of President last Friday, reiterated Government’s commitment to the development of communities across the country.
At the time, he was witnessing the handing over of a modern $5.7M ambulance, PMM 6823 with kit, an all terrain vehicle (ATV) valued $2.78M, a photocopying machine and two motorcycles costing $2.78M, all intended for enhancement in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Berbice).
The formalities took place at the Linden/Georgetown Mini-Bus Park, at Mackenzie where the ambulance was accepted by the Regional Administration for Kwakwani Hospital.
Mr. Hinds said: “I want to reiterate that we do our best to distribute or meet the needs across the country in an equitable way. This may be a small thing but, perhaps, just in anticipation of people who may say this is a small event, maybe a total of $12M to $15M.”
He said the Government has spent large sums of money in Linden, including between $150M to $200M to support electricity in the town, which, maybe, meets 10 per cent of the real cost of production.
The Prime Minister continued: “We support the rest of the country, the 140,000 customers of Guyana Power and Light (GPL). We support them, actually, at about $2 billion per year. But here, in Linden, we have 8,000. So the rate of support is some 15 to 20 times more.”
Regional Chairman Mortimer Mingo commended the Government on the interventions.
He said: “We are particularly pleased with the interventions that are being made, coming out of the Cabinet Outreach. These pieces of equipment are to be presented to the various communities across Region 10.
Mr. Mingo said the ambulance is part of the Regional Democratic Council’s capital programme under health, for representation had been made to the Government through the budget process and the monies were made available to the RDC for the procurement for residents of Kwakwani.
EMERGENCY NEEDS
He said the one it replaces, previously used on the Kwakwani trail, will be posted to the Upper Demerara Hospital to respond to emergency needs of residents across the Demerara River.
Mingo also informed that the ATV will be for Police use in Ituni District and the photocopy machine for Kwakwani Secondary School, where it would adequately facilitate various types of test papers and administrative purposes.
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Kellanwan Lall, who was, coincidentally, in the area, said he was there to meet the RDC and they talked, especially, about improving the quality of education and health care in the Region.
He indicated that, as a result of their discussions, another meeting is scheduled for next week with the Interim Management Committee (IMC), to continue discussing quite a number of issues.
“The objective is to bring benefits to the people of the Region,” Lall said, assuring that this was not the first and last of such interventions in the various sectors of the Region.
About the two motorcycles, he said one will be to help the Region monitor the security, because firms have been contracted for a number of Government facilities as “sometimes, we believe we are not getting our monies’ worth”.
“Sometimes, we have people absent or leaving very expensive property unguarded and where the Town Council is concerned, we want that motorcycle to be used to go round the place to encourage residents in Linden to pay up their rates and taxes,” Lall explained.
Regional Executive Officer (REO), Mr. Henry Rodney noted that the exercise was in keeping with President’s outreach during which the communities made various requests.
Rodney said the Region has been allocated funds through the other ministries and other donations will be made before year end.
Among others in the gathering were Chief Executive Officer of Linden Hospital Complex, Mr. Gordon Gumbs; Regional Education Officer, Mr. Claude Johnson; Town Clerk, Mr. Patrick Inniss and senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).