THE Linden Mayor and Town Council will now be in possession of five compactor trucks and two tractors and former Mayor Carwyn Holland said that Linden’s garbage-collection woes will be a thing of the past and residents will no longer have to pay private companies to collect their garbage. For the first time in years, the municipality in 2017 was able to purchase two spanking new compactor trucks, which are currently on the wharf and are expected to be in Linden in a few days. The Chinese Government through Bosai Minerals Group Guyana will also be gifting the municipality a compactor truck and the Council has already passed within their budget $1.5 M to repair one of the two compactor trucks that is not functioning properly.

With five working trucks and two tractors which the Council already has, Holland said that one of the major ills of the Council has been solved and is happy that he was able to accomplish this during his tenure. “I want to be thankful to God that during my tenure, I would have seen an increase of the compactor trucks and we were able to purchase two compactor trucks. I believe that this is the first time in decades that we were able to purchase two compactor trucks…..which is a remarkable achievement,” Holland told the media on Wednesday.

With the Council’s trucks being in a state of disrepair, almost 90% of Linden’s residential garbage is collected by Cevon’s Waste Management. This service costs each household $1,600 monthly. “It is my belief that Linden people deserve a break from all these bills and all these things that face us. Linden has been impoverished for so long, I believe no one in Linden should be paying for garbage collection once everyone hold their rates and taxes; once these things [are] coming in, I believe we should provide a service to our community and I think we can become the first town to achieve this,” Holland said.

With the swearing in of the new Mayor Waneka Arrindell and Deputy Mayor Wainright Bethune on Wednesday in Georgetown, Holland said that he is leaving office with a complete heart that he would have accomplished a lot. In addition to better garbage collection, Holland said that Linden’s economy is better off than in 2016 when he was sworn in. The town, he said, was starved for investment, but with networking and collaborative efforts, investors are now coming to Linden and things are looking up. As it relates to the economy of the municipality, the return of the toll booth has resulted in a significant amount of income for the Council and many projects were undertaken. One of the major accomplishments for the Council since the return of the booth, is the increase in salaries for workers and the Council’s ability to pay off debts as well as to honour workers’ NIS payments. “Today that is a thing of the past and the Council is in a far better financial position and is able to execute many projects in the town,” Holland said.

As a young mayor, his interest in youths has been deemed overwhelming. From the forming of a youth group to personally sponsoring many, Holland posited that the development of youths is his passion and even after demitting office, will continue to be a catalyst for youth progression. Similar energies were also directed to the elderly. “I feverishly worked with youth groups on several projects, assisted with scholarships, personally sponsored activities for youths, found jobs for many, founded the Linden Youth Leaders Group and all of this was honouring the promise I made at my swearing-in ceremony, where I promised to expend much energy incorporating youth and youth initiatives in my daily activities…..during the Christmas season I cleaned up the yards of many elderly persons on the Wismar shore, who could not afford to pay for such services as part of the Elderly Care Project which I launched. The project also has a component whereby doctors and nurses are hired privately to do periodic check-ups of the elderly.”
As it relates to sports, Holland believes that he had done a lot. Only recently, he held the Linden Games and the Carwyn Holland swim meet.

Carwyn Holland will remain a municipal councillor and President of the Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM). He said that he did not run for a third term, since he wants to further his studies, but will continue to serve his community and hometown as he was doing even before being elected mayor.