THE announcement by President Jagdeo that approximately 50 km stretch of road linking the remote hinterland communities of Matthew’s Ridge and Port Kaituma in the North West of Guyana, Region One (Barima/Waini) is slated to be constructed soon, is a most welcome one.

This will be done with a $50M contribution from the government working in partnership with a Canada-based mining company.

However, the President clearly was upset, and he said so publicly, that the road should have already been completed because a few years ago money was allocated for the project. He blamed bungling – or to use his words ‘dilly dallying’ – at the Ministry of Public Works for the non-completion of the road.

“I am a bit disappointed that this road from Matthew’s Ridge to Port Kaituma was not built before because the government has already assigned the money to do so,” the President said.

He added: “…in our Manifesto for the last elections, we said we will spend $2B on hinterland roads. And this was one of the roads identified. We set aside the money three years ago, but until now it has not been spent.”

This is a serious issue and the President should delve deeply into this bungling and take appropriate disciplinary action against those who may have been culpable in the bungling.

It is a well known fact that the hinterlands have tremendous potential for development, especially as regards agriculture.

However, because of the absence of adequate road networks, that potential has not been realised as yet.

Therefore, the construction of roads in these communities cannot be treated as a trivial issue; on the contrary it has to be one of urgency, because it is matter of poor people improving their standard of living and developing their communities and ultimately the national economy.
With regards to the Matthew’s Ridge/Port Kaituma road, it is good to see that a partnership approach has been adopted as this is the preferred path of development in today’s world.

“Rather than we split efforts, we can work together to build this road…so the government is going to contribute $50M to the road (and) Reunion Manganese Inc will be responsible for maintaining and fixing the road,” the President said.

“This money is available now; in fact, it was available three years back and, I don’t want to use another (stronger) word but I am disappointed that it has not happened (used towards the road)…,” the President said.

In this instance, the road is not only beneficial to the residents in that Matarkai sub-region that encompasses both Matthew’s Ridge and Port Kaituma, but is also crucial to the expanding mining operation by Canada-based company, Reunion Manganese Inc., which is currently in the initial stages of investing heavily in the manganese-rich area of Matthew’s Ridge.

All these developments will help to create employment and revive this mining community which was very vibrant when mining was in full swing in the area some decades ago.

In fact, in those days the community was so vibrant it prompted a former President of this country to mull the idea of making it into the capital city.

Developing road networks in the hinterlands is crucial for the economic take-off in the communities located there.

Another typical example of this is the case of Region Eight which has prime fertile lands and a climate that is conducive to growing a host of vegetables which are imported currently.

These include potatoes, onions, and a few others. But the problem again is egress and ingress; so to get the produce out is a severe logistical difficulty.

Under the previous government, almost no effort was made to address the road network problem in the hinterland region.
Consequently, the burden rests with the current government and it is heartening to see that it has been taking action in this regard.