“OUR COUNTRY, over the years under the PPP/C government, has been developing fairly rapidly, despite the fact that we had to contend with a national and international financial crisis that had impacted our region.”The foregoing statement was proudly communicated by President Donald Ramotar to residents of Region 3 (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) when he addressed the Fourth Road Project (West Coast Demerara Road Improvement) opening ceremony in the environs of the Vreed-en-Hoop ferry stelling.

He noted that due to positive growth in the country’s infrastructure, “we are able to see positive growth in our economy.”

“I am sure you will hear that infrastructure is important for social and economic development of any country. Our country, over the years under the PPP/C government, has been developing fairly rapidly, despite the fact that we had to contend with a national and international financial crisis that had impacted our region,” President Ramotar explained.

The Head of State explained that even with this impact on the Region, because of conscious and calculated investment strategies, the country was still able to grow.

“But our country continued over the last nine years to have positive economic growth in this same period of time,” he said.

He noted that when the PPP/C government took over the country in 1992, “we had to repair the 28 years of bad infrastructure; and now that that is over, we need to take our country to a much higher level of development. It is now clear that the infrastructure we have is not now sufficient to take us into the future, and this is why these investments are very important for the development of Guyana.”

Speaking on developments that are to come, the President explained: “Already, we are working on; and before the end of the year, all the feasibility studies will be finished, so that we can look at the West Bank Demerara road and make it into a highway as well, and to look at Canal Number 1 and 2 roads and have them fixed and bring them to highway type of status.”

The President was at pains to explain how much spending is done on sea defences in the country as well, and he said that a significant amount is slated to be spent in Region 3, to improve the current situation.

The President stressed that one of the things his administration would be focusing on is quality.
“Quality of our work is extremely important! We believe (that) because of the rapid growth of this region, that transportation here in now becoming more inadequate, and the need for a new crossing of the Demerara River is becoming important”, he said.

He said he had observed this, and assured residents that “the Government is beginning to study the possibility of a new bridge across the Demerara River; and hopefully, that would come soon, before the next five years.”
This, he said, would help to further integrate Region 3 with Georgetown.

Addressing food security, an important factor in any country, President Ramotar declared that Region 3 “is a very important region as far as the production of food in Guyana is concerned; and that, he said, “is the reason we are looking at putting in new roads, where more persons will have access to huge areas of land which we will be able to use and diversify the agriculture that we have.”

He noted that Guyana is well known across the Caribbean for its production of rice and sugar, and he also urged persons to broaden the base of Guyana’s production and diversify into other aspects of food production.

“We need to immunise our economy, and we have gone a far way; and we can do this by broadening the base of our economy”, he declared as he noted that “we see great possibilities in the coconut industry — that it can develop into being as strong and as powerful as rice and sugar”.

The Head of State disclosed his expectation that Guyana would very soon join the international club of oil and gas-producing countries.

“As we speak, Exxon Mobile has started drilling on our coast, and I feel extremely optimistic that we are on the threshold of becoming an oil and gas-producing country,” the President declared.

President Ramotar also expressed that Government is partnering with the Private Sector, and this partnership is in the construction of a new Call Centre at Tuschen, EBE, which he said would employ over 900 persons. He said another call centre is also being established at Enmore, East Coast Demerara. (Rebecca Ganesh)