MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud, along with Minister within the Ministry, Norman Whittaker, and Permanent Secretary, Collin Croal, recently engaged the Regional Executive Officers (REOs) of the 10 administrative regions in the ministry’s boardroom in Kingston. The meeting allowed the local government ministers and officials the opportunity to assess the regional bodies’ 2011 work programmes. The dialogue also centred on arriving at a consensus on how to close those programmes that were incomplete, in addition to ensuring that all the financial mechanisms are in place to facilitate their successful completion.
Following the meeting, the Government Information Agency (GINA) spoke with some of the REOs, and they highlighted some of the major programmes that would have been completed in their regions during 2011.

Region 9 – Infrastructure and transportation boosted
Ronald Harsawack, REO, Region 9, told GINA that the region has completed another successful year. He said that tremendous emphasis was on infrastructure strengthening and improving the transportation sector.
Highlighting some of the interventions, he said the regional administration strengthened transportation between Lethem and other areas.
“We have constructed miles and miles of roads in the savannahs, the roads within Lethem, and many bridges and culverts along the route between Lethem and Aishalton,” Harsawack said.
In the area of education, he said, “The region spent in excess of $21M in providing school furnishings to the over 80 schools.” He added that Region 9 is now in a comfortable position and he can safely say that all the schools are fully furnished and equipped.
Several schools were also rehabilitated and the region is finalising construction of the Sand Creek Secondary.
Underscoring the developments in the area of health in Region 9, he said that new health services are now being offered at the Lethem Hospital and the health centres have been rehabilitated across the region. The region continues to train its Community Health Workers (CHWs) and medex, and benefited from an influx of new nurses and doctors.
With regard to agriculture, he said outreaches continued to the communities, providing artificial insemination programmes, crop management, and pest eradication programmes.
“Region 9 is now recovering from the flood in July, but I can safely say things are back to normal and crop production is back on stream because of government interventions,” he added.

Region 8 – Strides in education and electricity sectors
REO, Region 8, Ishwar Dass, said that Region 8 was allocated $44.3 for its education sector. And this was expended on the following programmes: $9M to enclose the bottom of the Mahdia Secondary School, catering for 100 children, $5M to set up an IT lab at the same school, and another $8M for the construction of an Industrial Arts Centre at Paramakatoi.
Teachers’ quarters were constructed at Mahdia to the tune of $9M, while the Paramakatoi Secondary School was renovated. The floors of the school were tiled, the windows replaced and the water facilities upgraded.
Dass said that much emphasis is on education, as the level of education in the region is the poorest in Guyana’ He added, “We realise that we have to ensure we have systems in place to move from this level to something higher.”
He said that the $11.5M allocated to the region’s health sector was spent renovating the Kato Cottage Hospital, the Mahdia District Hospital, and on the X-Ray facility at Mahdia.
More than 100 miles of roads were upgraded between Monkey Mountain and Orinduik in 2011, with the $30M allocated to the region for the development of transportation infrastructure, Dass said. The bridges along the route were also upgraded.
In 2011 too, Mahdia for the first time received electricity for 24 hours per day. Consumers are being charged $100 per kilowatt, and the first 15 kilowatts every month is free.
The money collected is being used to purchase the fuel needed to generate the electricity, with the remainder being put into an account to be used to facilitate any repairs or upgrade that may be required to the electrical system.

Region 7 – Health, education sectors upgraded
REO Peter Ramotar said that some of the major works completed in Region 7 in 2011 include the construction of the $20M annex for the St Anthony Primary School, the $20M rehabilitation of the 2-Miles Primary School, and the $25M dormitory and students’ quarters extension at Baramani, a joint collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the region.
A health post was constructed at Wax Creek; a doctors’ quarters at Kamarang, and the Bartica hospital services were also upgraded.