— NDMA chief urges Lindeners

LINDENERS have been urged to make full use of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hubs that are available in several communities, since it is believed that the hubs are underutilised.

According to Phillip Walcott, Director of the National Data Management Authority (NDMA), if the hubs continue to be underutilised, a decision will be made to remove them from the communities.

He made this comment at the commissioning of an ICT hub in Block 22 last Thursday.
“Linden, Linden, I have listened to the whispers of the non-use of the hubs, but Linden can’t keep crying for resources and when the resources are given you are not using them. The Government of Guyana does not have an inexhaustible supply of resources that we can squander it and have it locked up for a year and something without use,” Walcott told the gathering.

Alluding to several communities such as Sisters Village and Albouystown where the hubs are crowded with youths, Walcott said the situation is the exact opposite in Linden and the hubs will simply be removed if they are underutilised.

“I am issuing a mandate as the national coordinator of the programme. My mandate is simple; again, if you continue not to use the hubs we will simply move them, because we cannot afford to have government resources being wasted.”

Some of the services offered at the ICT hubs are free Internet access, free computer systems and free computer training. They are equipped with a management committee responsible for proper usage by residents of the community.
Block 22 is the latest of several Linden communities that have benefited from an ICT hub. Last Thursday, the spanking new hub was commissioned with eight new computers and free WIFI service.

“An ICT hub is created so you can have access to a device and then for others the challenge of connectivity and ICT hubs provide free Wi-Fi, so that that challenge is removed. You run out of data that you can use in the comfort of your home, you can come to the hub during the hours the hub is available and you can use that,” the NDIA director said.

He also revealed that soon two other communities, including Cinderilla City in Amelia’s Ward, will receive ICT hubs. Some other Linden communities that were furnished with hubs include Victory Valley, Wisroc, Coomacka and Bamia.
ICT hubs have been commissioned in scores of communities countrywide. The aim of the project is for citizens to have equal access to information technology, so that everyone has a chance of becoming computer literate.

A US$31 million project will be launched later this year in an effort to have all hubs furnished with WIFI.