By Ariana Gordon

CHANGING the culture of residents of the municipality of Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast; beautifying the environment and ensuring that young people have access to sporting facilities are critical to the development of the town.Eustace Vincent Collins, a 68-year-old resident popularly known as “VC”, believes that much needs to be done over the next three years to ensure that Anna Regina is returned to its former glory.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, Collins said poor leadership has, over the years, contributed to “much stagnation” in the town.

“I feel the quality of leadership in the town is poor. There is no proper vision that can enhance the development,” he stated, noting that it is his desire to make a difference in his town.

He spoke to issues such as roadside vending, drainage and irrigation, and sporting facilities for the youths.

On the issue of roadside vending, Collins said there have been several complaints by the Interim Management Committee (IMC) and the previous Mayor and City Council (M&CC), but nothing has been done to have these vendors removed.

“We cannot put the people on the bread line, but we have alternatives. One such alternative is to increase the market space by going up one flat,” he said.
He said if the Anna Regina Market is rehabilitated, then those vendors that sell outside the market and along the streets can be accommodated within the market. He estimates that there are approximately 80 roadside vendors in Anna Regina.

Roadside vending has been a bone of contention for many years, Collins told the Guyana Chronicle, noting that removing the vendors is one thing, but finding suitable accommodation for them is another. He explained that most of roadside vendors depend heavily on selling to maintain their families.

Asked whether sufficient resources are available to rehabilitate the Anna Regina Market, Collins said, “I am sure resources can be found. There are many donor agencies that would be willing to provide funding. We have to seek assistance, and I am sure that we’d be able to garner the resources.”

The Anna Regina resident recalled that, about five years ago, a Canadian municipality had requested the Mayor and Councillors of Anna Regina to put together a development plan geared at receiving funding. This was not done, he said.

“What needs to be done is a proposal; a developmental plan…a Canadian municipality was willing to assist us. The Anna Regina municipality is twinned with a Canadian municipality,” the Guyana Chronicle was told.

“I don’t believe securing funds would be an issue. If you don’t try, then that is an issue; because we’d remain with the same problems that faced us previously.”

Collins believes that the Anna Regina Council needs to “operate like a business.” He told the Guyana Chronicle it is important that the council generates income and stop being dependent.

“I have been able to observe how the council operates: It does not operate in a business-like manner; it depends heavily on rates and taxes and subventions from central government.”

He also said that being able to generate its own financial resources is critical to the maintenance of the town.

“It must act like a business,” the Anna Regina resident stressed. Collins, who is a businessman, said he can’t understand why the council had “gotten rid of” a garbage truck the town had acquired a few years ago. The council then proceeded to hire a private garbage contractor to collect garbage from around the town.

“My understanding is that the garbage truck was sold upon the instruction of a former minister; it is no longer within the municipality,” Collins told the Guyana Chronicle.

The council, he advised, has to “get into income-generating activities” in order to ensure the town is developed.

ONE WAY STREETS AND DRAINAGE
Additionally, it is Collins’s desire to see the narrow streets of Anna Regina be converted to one-way streets. He said there are too many accidents on the streets because of their narrow nature.

“We can’t wait until there is an accident to decide to change the narrow streets to one-way,” he said.

Turning to the drainage system, Collins said Anna Regina is dependent on gravity flow to provide drainage for the community. But due to clogged drains, there is a disruption of the flow of water when it rains.

“I am not happy with the drainage system; Anna Regina is dependent on gravity flow to provide drainage for the area. In some cases, the eastern side (towards the seawall) is lower than the western side, and as such, there is a natural flow of water going towards the sea; but because of the disruption of the drainage system, the water is now forced to go uphill, towards the west, which is against the natural flow,” he explained.

He said that because of the drainage issue, the town of Anna Regina is flood-prone.

“It means that people are not able to maintain their kitchen gardens, etcetera.” Collins said that, as an agriculture-based economy, Region Two depends heavily on proper drainage.

CAR PARK AND SPORTING FACILITIES
Once elected as a councillor, Collins said, he will propose that minibus and taxi drivers who utilise the space on a daily basis pay a fee for its usage. He said that, once collected, the fee will serve to maintain the area.

According to Collins, the car park is the responsibility of the municipality, and as such, the municipality has to find the requisite resources to maintain the park.

“It means (that) when the car park has deteriorated, the municipality has to fund the repairs. Yet they are not collecting the fees. It has to generate money so it can be sustained,” he said.

In the past, Collins said, a proposal had been put to the council for taxi and minibus drivers to pay a fee, but politics became part of the consideration and that recommendation was shelved.

He said that, like the car park, there is need to have the lone public convenience in the town in good working order. He said, too, that it is his desire to see additional public conveniences installed to avoid placing tremendous burden on anyone.

“If you go around central Anna Regina, there is one public convenience. It is not in good order, nor is it cleaned regularly,” Collins told this newspaper, while highlighting that the town of Anna Regina does not have bins along the streets.

“We don’t have bins, so we can’t stop littering. The council has some drums, but they are parked up for over one year in the yard,” he added.

Collins also said he wishes to see the young people of the town engaged in more sporting activities. He noted that the grounds in the town are of poor standard.
“The largest ground is the Anna Regina Community Centre Ground. All other grounds, apart from Kayman Sankar’s ground, fall under the municipality. These grounds are not being properly maintained, and I don’t know why. The council doesn’t have any special interest, or they don’t seem interested in lifting the standards of sporting facilities,” the impassioned man told Guyana Chronicle.

It is his desire to have all grounds rehabilitated. Should he be elected, he would propose that a “Special Community Committee” be established to manage the grounds.

“A committee that would operate under the council but would have special mandates to generate income and manage the grounds,” Collins added.

He said the roof of the pavilion of the Anna Regina Community Centre is in need of repair, and the centre has been locked up for years.

“The place is in a state of disrepair. What normally happens is (that) the ground is used to host fund-raising activities. What you find is [that] there is no control as it relates to [the use of glass] bottles when activities are held at the ground,” he said, noting that broken bottles make it unsafe for persons to participate in sporting activities there.

“No (glass) bottles and vehicles ought to be allowed on the grounds when activities are being held,” he told Guyana Chronicle. “If I am elected, I’d be happy (to introduce this rule). I think I have the vision, the mission and the ability to serve in the best interest of the people, and to develop the town of Anna Regina,” said Collins, who is contesting under A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance For Change coalition (APNU+AFC) in both the Proportional Representation and the First-past-the-post systems.

“I’d like to see Anna Regina transformed, and it is my hope that people would crave to visit the town of Anna Regina,” said Collins.