President launches land development project, commissions Lima Water Treatment Plant
-He, ministers outline government’s development trajectory
HIS EXCELLENCY, President Bharrat Jagdeo and Ministers Robert Persaud and Irfaan Ali last Friday reviewed government’s performance in national development, and reiterated its commitment to continue working towards the PPP/C’s goals of people empowerment and national development initiatives. This was at inaugural ceremonies of recent major development projects, which have once again underlined government’s commitment to enhancing the lives and lifestyles of Guyanese citizens countrywide. The launch of the Aurora Land Development Project and the commissioning of the Lima Water Treatment Plant by the President last Friday are the latest in a continuum of developmental initiatives that have propelled the County of Essequibo from the status of Cinderella to Crown Princess of Guyana.
The rags-to-riches transformation of this once completely devastated county has been replicated throughout Guyana, with no community favoured over another, although availability of resources and funds, and needs assessments, have consequenced sequential prioritizing of programmes implemented. Development had to be done incrementally as funds became available in direct juxtaposition with, and as a result of, the gradual reduction of Guyana’s crippling debt burden that had been inherited by the PPP/C Government from the past administration.
Though long in the pipeline, the Aurora Land Development Project was formally launched at 14:30 hrs at the Aurora Primary School last Friday. Speaking to a packed auditorium, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud outlined government’s people-empowerment and development plans and initiatives for the country in general, and Essequibo in particular, stressing that this is a work in progress and that some areas of need may receive priority treatment based on qualitative and quantifying needs assessments.
The objectives of the Aurora Land Development Project are: To promote expansion of agriculture-based activities, with the provision of 5,500 acres of land; to promote investment and development for Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam); to promote development in rural areas of the country; and to support the agriculture diversification drive among others.
[The water treatment facility at Lima, on the Essequibo Coast] The identified area is expected to be an asset to farmers from Good Hope to Riverstown, and will be designed mainly for the cultivation of rice paddy but, although the project area has fertile, clayey soil that best suits rice cultivation, other cash crops are also expected to thrive well in the area.
Region Two Chairman, Mr. Ally Baksh, preceded the Agriculture Minister at the podium, while President Jagdeo delivered the feature address. PPP Presidential candidate, Mr. Donald Ramotar was a much appreciated guest speaker at the event.
President Jagdeo, who also delivered the feature address at the commissioning of the Lima Water Treatment Plant, promised the residents at both events that the government will continue to address their problems and adjured them to make full use of the benefits and facilities provided for their development, because the cost for both projects was significant; with an initial start-up sum of $250 million in the estimated billion dollar land development project. He expressed his intention to continue to develop the farming area and promised close oversight of the project to ensure that the land will be distributed fairly and equitably.
He encouraged residents to elect a representative community group, which would be consulted to ensure a final design that would be compatible with the expectations of the farmers, failing which the farmers themselves would be allowed to review the designs to ensure compliance with their specifications, following which the government will proceed to tender.
[Essequibians at the commissioning of the Lima water treatment plant] President Jagdeo also informed the residents that government has also allocated $225 million for the purchase of bulldozers to facilitate road maintenance, among other capital works, with a special focus on strengthening farm-to-market roads. He said the two bulldozers that serviced the entire agriculture belt of the country were insufficient; although a large number of excavators were purchased and provided to regional authorities to alleviate flooding in communities across the country. He cited $42 million as the average price of a bulldozer and stated that the land development project and purchase of bulldozers would cost the government an initial $500 million.
He explained the need to split the money to address the needs — just as pressing — of farmers in other regions.
The President highlighted the advantages that could be accrued to every family with the One Laptop Per Family initiative and the fibre optic cable, which will optimize development potential at individual, family, community, and national levels, and lauded GT&T’s initiative in this regard, which has significantly expanded IT potential in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica).
He dismissed the misgivings of some persons, who advised stopping the cable at Parika because of the difficulty and great expense of laying it across the Essequibo River and promised that the cable would soon stretch all across Essequibo. He also explained the great educational opportunities that would be provided by the education channel, the lessons on which will be available all across the country, even in hinterland communities, which will be a tremendous boost to education-delivery of quality in an equitable manner.
He drew attention to the many interventions that government makes to ensure that farmers are empowered, and cited as a recent example the strategies used to enable Mahaicony Rice Mills to pay off the millions of dollars that they owed rice farmers, largely because the government is sympathetic to farmers, although they reap criticisms by detractors as a reward, as in the instance when government bailed out GuySuCo, as well as Barama and other working class groups, which it does because this is the nature of Cheddi Jagan’s government.
Alluding to the great transformation in the Essequibo so far, which is today unrecognizable from when the PPP assumed office in 1992, the President said that this is only [Aurora residents during a meeting with the President ] the beginning and promised accelerated development in the future, with a significant increase in the earning power of the average Guyanese under the helm of Donald Ramotar as president.  He urged residents not to be complacent and allow anyone to derail this momentum of development that is continually accelerating with their false promises.
PPP General-Secretary and presidential candidate, Mr. Donald Ramotar, reiterated the President’s sentiments as he reminisced on the journey through Guyana’s history of struggle, with the PPP in the forefront, to the current transformed landscape in the nation, first under the helm of the Jagans, then under President Jagdeo’s leadership.