THE LINDEN Town Council (LTC) has embarked on a number of projects to mark the anniversary celebrations of the town’s existence, and to better the standard of living of residents in the town. To this end, the municipality is hoping that residents support the community-based initiatives.
Coordinator of this year’s Town Week Committee, Councillor Winston Smith, told this newspaper thus: “One of the things we want during the Town Week is to keep the town as clean as possible. I want to stress (to) the community that we will be hosting our birthday from 21st to 30th April. For our celebrations, we are going to call on Lindeners to try in every possible way to showcase Linden in a clean atmosphere. The…fact (is) that the council will be stretched to its capacity to…keep this town as clean as possible, and we are asking all to cooperate.”
In terms of projects, he said: “We have earmarked projects that we want to see started and completed for the Town Week.”
He noted, for example, that “we want to establish a Bus Park across at the Wismar Market for buses to stop right there, and provide transportation from there to the interior. This is opposed to what obtains currently, where the transportation comes from Georgetown and passes through the town to the interior locations, such as Mahdia.”
He further disclosed: “We will be lobbying with the residents of Linden to support our venture in terms of the park. We are to incorporate entities like Digicel, Banks, BOSAI, and Bai Shan Ling, those companies have all pledged equipment and other things in terms of making this project a reality.”
To indicate that the project is slated to become a success, Smith declared: “We have the blessings of the Guyana Police Force and some government officials to have established this park, but we would like it to be a community project; to have the residents also buy in to this, as it will stimulate a lot of economic activity within our town of Linden once that park is established, and this is definitely one of the community projects to be done.”
Another project being undertaken, Smith disclosed, is replacement of the street lighting in certain areas of the community. Residents have constantly been asking for lights in certain areas, and some lights that were basically set up by Digicel have been blown. Lights would be replaced to ensure better visibility in the housing areas at nights.
Additionally, Smith disclosed: “We are going to also look at the placement of a lot of benches around the community. So those are some of the projects (we) look forward (to); but one of the major projects we are pushing is the Bus Park at the Wismar Market.” This, he said, would basically see sweeping transformation once established.

Parking Arrangements
Smith indicated, “We are going to have — in conjunction with the Guyana Police Force, who are part of the Linden Town Week Committee this year as our partner — a joint statement where we will be giving advisories as to when certain roads will be closed, way before the Town Week commences. So the public can look forward to these advisories from the Linden Town Week Committee, in collaboration with the Guyana Police Force.”
He continued: “In terms of secure areas, we have advised that, basically, with the influx of vehicles which will be entering our community on the local scene — much less those coming from elsewhere — so we will basically be flooded with vehicles in our community.”
He acknowledged, however, that “parking would be a troublesome situation”. “So, at the committee level, we have looked at what we would like to basically see as parking lots, and one of those areas is basically the Linden Technical Institute area. We are also looking at the area in terms of the Mayor and Town Council pound, to clear it and the Linmine Constabulary, and possibly the area near the Tyre Shop and on Sir David Rose Avenue.”
He said, “While they (the identified areas) may not be sufficient for parking lots, we are working closely with the Guyana Police Scouts and the other church scouts within our community, where we will also be (involving) them in the selling of tickets, and all the proceeds from those tickets will go exclusively to these scouts, to enhance whatever they are going to be doing within their organisation. So, again, we will be asking the public to lend (its) support and to look out for the scouts and support them.”
Smith mentioned that the police will be at those parking areas to prevent theft, and the joint statement will see the public being advised that, when they leave their homes, there will be some police presence in those areas to overlook their premises.

Vending for Town Week
Asked how the vending would be handled, with persons coming from out of town to do business, Smith said: “Areas will be open to vending, and we will not be discriminating as to who gets those spots. Lindeners are asked to come out early and pay the fee for those spots they want to vend on.”