RESIDENTS of Ithaca on the West Bank of Berbice in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) said Thursday that the pace of progress on the Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development (RAID) project aback the village has picked up satisfactorily.

“The contractor has ‘pulled up his socks’ and the project seems to be moving in a positive direction,” Mr Desmond Weekes, President of the Ithaca Agricultural Land Development Coop Society reported.

The residents had a few weeks ago expressed concern about the priorities of the contractor, and the slow pace of progress on the project, which is designed to provide them with  drainage and irrigation infrastructure, plus land-preparation equipment and technical advice, which will help to boost agricultural production on 900 acres of hitherto unproductive land aback the village.

An official of the Ministry of Agriculture monitoring execution of the project said yesterday that complaints about the priorities of the contractor and the slow pace of progress had arisen out of a misunderstanding.

“I think that we are clear of that now, and I have given all interested parties the assurance that the Ithaca RAID project will be completed efficiently, and within schedule,” he said.
The project to open up unused fertile lands aback Ithaca for agricultural production is being made possible under a loan granted to the Government of Guyana by the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF).

The name of the project is Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development (RAID) in small-scale farming communities in Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).
The CDF was established under Article 158 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas “for the purpose of providing financial or technical assistance to disadvantaged countries, regions and sectors.”

It is the centrepiece of the regime to address disparities among CARICOM member states, which may result from implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Buxton and Triumph on the East Coast and Mocha on the East Bank are three small-scale farming communities in Region Four which will benefit from similar D&I systems and agricultural support under the scheme.

H Nauth and Sons General Engineering Contractors had won the $148M contract for constructing drains, canals, access dams and hydraulic structures for the RAID project at Ithaca.

Those Ithaca residents who will benefit from it have organised themselves into a cooperative society named the Ithaca Agricultural Land Development Coop Society.
Weekes said that members of the Society are monitoring the roll-out of the project “very, very closely.”