IT gives me great pleasure to respond to Mr. Mingo’s letter dated 05-10-2010 and any other person who would like to challenge me on facts and figures to the development of Linden under the present PPP/C Administration.

It is very unfair to say that this present Government is not doing anything for Linden and Region Ten, when the records are there to show that the Government has been working all over this Country and not discriminating against any Region.

Fellow Lindeners, Mr. Mortimer Mingo is the Regional Chairman for Region Ten and would have been exposed to the development of the people’s needs through the regional budgetary allocations and central government intervention in Linden and Region Ten.

Mingo has stated to you that what I wrote about Linden was fallacies and half truths, but he did not state what were the fallacies and half truths. We all live in Linden and we know what happened in the past and what is happening since 1992.

Everyone who had worked at the Bauxite Industry would have known that the Industry has been unprofitable since 1982 and it deteriorated under the last PNC administration, of which Mingo was employed as senior security personnel officer.

The poor condition of both plant and mine equipment had resulted in a heavy loss of market during the 80’s and early 90’s.

In 1985, we had a financial intervention of 34.5 million ECU  by Sysmin (System of Mining Products – Special Financing facility) and we had financial intervention in 1991 by the World Bank, Sysmin and the European Investment Bank- provided  US$23 Million in credits in that phase for use in the Initial Restructuring Phase (IRP).

Although we had all those interventions Linmine Production fell (more than 45% from 1991 to 1992) and continued to drop thereafter, despite Minproc, which was brought in under the PNC administration to manage the industry and to make it profitable.  For me, and many others would confirm, the management of Minproc was worse than when Dunstan Barrow was managing the Company.

Please note, Mr. Mingo, that the Sysmin loan received during that time had nothing to do with the intervention of Leap, so don’t spread false information to the public. A decision was taken by the Government of Guyana in June 2003 to have Linmine operations managed by Cambior, a Canadian company who owned OMAI Gold Mine. (OBMI) as an interim measure, until the financing for the full joint venture through privatization took place. In the month of December 2004 the Linden Bauxite was privatized by joint shares of Cambior having 70% shares and Government 30% shares.  The Cambior shares were sold to BOSAI CHINA in year 2007.

As a result of the failure of Minproc to make the Bauxite Company profitable and the heavy loss of employment, the PPP/C Administration embarked on a study to look at methods of diversification from being dependant on bauxite only.

Hence the birth of the LEAP project, which was the brainchild of his Excellency Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. That project was financed under a grant from the European Union; the project took off in 2002 and concluded in 2009.
Mingo was the RDC representative on the advisory board of LEAP, and many times we could not get a proper update on the activities of Leap from Mingo.  Councillor Copeland is one of the councillors who asked many questions and got poor or no satisfactory answer. Let me list some of the projects below that were completed by LEAP.
> Rehabilitation and extension of West Watooka farm-to-market Road
> Installation of Culverts at West Watooka
> Rehabilitation of Moblissa road.
> Rehabilitation to 3 sluices/Kokers – Burnham Drive
> Construction of Spreightland Bridge
> Rehabilitation of the Mackenzie Car Park
> Construction of Sub-Office at Ituni for the RDC.
> Rehabilitation of Mackenzie Wharf and Building of stalls
> Rehabilitation of Hiamara Road
> Construction of water System at Moblissa
> Construction of Exhibition Center (Egbert Benjamin Center) –Mackenzie

The Linden Enterprise Network (LEN) is a new entity being set up and had not been placed in operation as yet, so how can it be dormant as Mingo Stated. This is a new entity being developed to replace some of the activities that were done by LEAP and LEAF. Currently most of the logistics for startup have been completed and LEN would be in operation soon.

It seems to me that Mr. Mingo has not seen any investment in Linden, although he also must have benefited from LEAF.  However, let me list some of the investments made in Linden over 5 years or so.
> BAI-SHANLIN – WOOD/TIMBER PROCESSING COMPANY – INVESTED US $10 MILLION
> SUNSHINE TIMBERS – WOOD/TIMBER PROCESSING COMPANY – INVESTED  US5 MILLION
> ARAWAK SHOE FACTORY – INVESTED G$20 MILLION
> SEBRA WOOD – INVESTED US$75,000
> COMPARE BREAD – INVESTED US$125,000.
> TOUCAN CONNECTION – INVESTED US$ 510,000
> TRIPLE L’S BAKERY – INVESTED US$ 10,000.
> GNIC CONTAINER YARD – INVESTED US$855,000 – PREPARING FOR LINDEN/BRAZIL OPERATION.
> JB METALS – WORKSHOP AND OPERATIONS – INVESTED  G$ 80 MILLION
> L&L MODERN RESTAURANT – INVESTED  OVER G$45 MILLION
> A&R COLLISION WORKSHOP – INVESTED OVER G$35 MILLION

There are many other businesses in operation that I have not mentioned.

PROPOSED NEW INVESTMENTS EXPECTED
> The Hydro Project Road Project. (would start within 1 month time or sooner)
> SIMON AND SHOCKS – PROPOSED TO ERECT A NEW MODERN SAW MILL AT DALAWALA, LINDEN.
> POTENCIA INDUSTRIES – A Brazilian Firm – Would manufacture concrete posts. (for electricity transmission).
> LINDEN CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL COMPANY (for brick-making)

The information I have provided in my letter is available to the public. However, Mr. Mingo must tell the Guyanese public which part of my message are fallacies and half-truths. However, I can give information on the development and rehabilitation of roads being done every year in Linden since the PPP/C took office in 1992 to present.  The public would appreciate that Mingo provides information and expenditure done on roads over the last 18 years prior to 1992 under the PNC administration.
The Government has not been spending money on roads in Linden only. In 2010,and 2008 over M$66 was spent on roads, in 2009, M$92.6 was spent on roads in Linden, and this does not include money spent on the Linden to Kwakwani road.
As a councilor of Region Ten I always commented on substandard works being done by some contractors executing projects in our region and my comments, as well as the comments of other councilors are reflected in the RDC minutes, which the public could see for themselves, because we report our findings to Mingo as the Regional Chairman. But a logical query is what has Mingo done about those substandard works as Regional Chairman of the Region.
On the issue of the 400 workers being employed to clean the clogged drains and parapets, he is saying that the government should give the Mayor & Town Council the requisite finances.  He sees this venture as an unnecessary expenditure.  First of all, the Mayor & Town Council has a track record of not spending the subvention provided by Central Government for over the past years, and the system is poorly managed as well.
Mr. Mingo should take a walk around in the mornings and interview those workers; he will hear for himself how much they appreciate the job and how very thankful they are to the President for instituting such a programme to assist them in earning a stipend every month and to keep our town clean, things that the M&TC failed to do.  Many of them are single parents, so this project is creating jobs for the jobless, whereby mothers especially can now breathe a sigh of relief.  If Mingo opposes such a venture that means he does not care about the wellbeing of the people in Linden.

What a ridiculous and un-democratic statement Mingo made about the Bauxite Pension Plan.  With the Privatization of Linmine and to facilitate the determination of the Bauxite Industry Pension Plan, the Government, Unions, Linmine, Bidco and the Pension Association agreed to have Dr Clive Thomas (Professor) of the University of Guyana conduct a survey of the membership of the Bauxite Pension Plan. The objective of the survey was to verify the members’ choices as to the way the BIPP should be determined.
At the conclusion of the survey 77% of the employees preferred the single cash payment, and 21% preferred to receive an annuity, while less than 1% preferred to participate in an investment facility.  All the stakeholders accepted the survey conducted by Dr Clive Thomas and his team from the University (IDS. Mingo should be aware that it was the wish of over 75% of the workers to have their money, and this process was democracy in action.

Mingo has to be aware that the first well-planned housing scheme that was built in Linden was the Wismar Housing Scheme under the first PPP Government Minister of Housing, the late President Janet Jagan.  As to the Wisroc Housing Scheme, which he mentioned, that housing scheme was developed through self-help development, where the Bauxite Company purchased the materials and the workers built the houses through self-help initiatives. However, they did not get those houses free but had to pay for them.
For the record, I was not as fortunate as Mingo to get a key to a house under the PNC administration. I purchased my house in 1998 under this present PPP/C Administration.  However, I can recall around the year 1986 I approached the then CEO, Dunstan Barrow, to acquire a house at Watooka, in the area I am currently living and he gave me a note to take to Mr. Morian, who was responsible for company houses at that time, to make available a house for me.  However, the gentleman stated that no house was available and took the note and threw it in his dust bin, although at that time two houses was available.
Since the PPP/C took office more than 4000 persons received house lots at Block #22, Amelia’s Ward and in other areas. Very shortly, another 1000 house lots would be distributed. Government is spending approximately $500M to develop phase three of Amelia’s Ward project.  These things are happening in an ongoing process, but Mingo must tell the people how many house lots were given to the people of Linden when the PNC was in power.

Government has also expended significant sums of money to enhance the Region Ten community. Under the Capital Works 2010 Programme of the Ministry of Agriculture’s National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), several key projects will be undertaken to strengthen and enhance the drainage and irrigation system in Region Ten. These projects are aimed at promoting agricultural diversification and protecting the livelihood of Region Ten residents.
These projects include construction of control structures at West Watooka, Region No. 10 (Cost $13,568,500), construction of soak-away structures at Wismar Hill, Region No. 10 (Cost $7,576,500), construction of control structures at Lower Kara Kara, Region No. 10 (Cost $6,025,700) and construction of drainage structures at Wismar Hill, Linden, Region No.10 (Cost $3,009,680). The total value for the projects is $30,171,380 and these have already been awarded. Two of those projects are currently underway.
During heavy rainfall compounded with high tide, which resulted in flash flooding to several areas in Region Ten, the NDIA moved to have four miles of canals and 500 feet of outfall channels excavated in Coomacka areas that were heavily silted. Approximately one mile of dredging was completed at Kara Kara Creek, which was never cleared. In Three Friends, two miles of canals were excavated, while 1000 rods of canals were cleared. $7M was also expended to manually clear canals, excavate and cart away spoils in Silver City.
In addition, the NDIA, under its 2009 capital works programme, have completed construction of drainage structures at Blueberry Hill, Region No. 10, costing in excess of $10M. This project was completed in December 2009 and is currently functioning as expected, channeling water collected from Blue Berry hill safely down to the Demerara River and reducing erosion as well as the possibility of land slippage. Due to the effectiveness of this project it is now being patterned for application at Wismar hill to solve the erosion and land slippage possibilities there.

The NDIA has also employed 400 drainage and irrigation workers in Region Ten at a cost of $110.4M yearly. These workers provide assistance with the clearing of main canals and waterways in Region Ten.

In addition to the capital construction works, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority has identified the Wisroc community area for major maintenance works, inclusive of manual cleaning and de-silting of drainage channels. These works will cost in excess of $2.5M.

The NDIA, under its 2010 maintenance works programme, has identified several critical areas for manual cleaning and de-silting of drainage channels. These areas include West Watooka, Rockstone, Cinderella City, Siberien, Old England, Retrieve, Canvas City, Industrial area, Victory Valley and Green Valley. These works are being undertaken by the NDIA’s community drainage and irrigation workers and will cost in excess of $14M. This project provides employment for a significant number of persons living in Region Ten.

For 2009, manual cleaning and de-silting of drainage channels were undertaken in eight area: West Watooka, Rockstone, Cinderella City, Old Kara, Upper West Watooka, West Watooka (residential area), Section “C” and Poker Street. These works were carried out at a cost of in excess of $9M.  I am very pleased at the comments made by good friend, Regional Chairman Mingo, acknowledging and praising Agriculture Minister Hon. Robert Persaud and the Ministry of Agriculture for the good works being done in Region Ten.

The PPP/C Government is for all Guyanese.   We the people in Region Ten highly appreciate the PPP/C’s contributions to development in the Region.  Our people are indeed proud and satisfied with our improved standard of living.  Housing, Health/New Hospitals, Education, Agriculture and water, road and electricity are far better today.

May God Bless the PPP/C Administration.