ON October 25, 2018, the mining community of Mahdia entered into an irrevocable process of development. This was the day it became a town, which paved the way for a local democracy to be instituted.

Getting to Mahdia from Linden takes about eight hours if you’re lucky enough to avoid the rains. Drivers from the popular Carly Bus Service, which offers daily transportation between Georgetown and Mahdia, explained that previously the journey would have taken much more time, but improvements to the trail have been a significant boost to the commute.

With the exception of the stop at Mabura Hill for a quick bite and to check in with the local police, and the crossing over the river at Mango Landing, the journey to Mahdia is like a modified rollercoaster ride- except there are no steel rails, just the loam trail, thick vegetation and the occasional wild animal running across the road.

And unless you decided to take a nap on the bus, you would be able to see the transformation from that scenery to huts and then the sighting of concrete roads and houses. This indicates that you’re in Mahdia.

Established in 1884, Mahdia is located in Region Eight: Potaro-Siparuni and is surrounded by 19 other communities. The region is renowned for its massive gold reserves though in recent years there has been a drop in production among small scale miners. Nowadays, the town has been much more commercial activity with the establishment of several eateries, general stores, a supermarket, and far too many hangout spots.

Mayor of Mahdia, David Adams has been a prominent businessman in the community for a number of years. “Coming out of my success in business, I think that is what motivated persons in the community to encourage me to get involved in local government,” Adams highlighted and affirmed: “To date, I don’t regret that decision.”

Now that Mahdia is a town, Adams shared that there is much work to be done with the influx of new developments taking place. The council has been instituted but the councillors are currently working alongside Adams to set up the prerequisites before the body can begin their work in Mahdia.

“We have to get ourselves organised, have our staff in place, have our finances in place, have our standing orders in place, etc,” he said. Capacity-building for staff members is also a must, according to Adams, who also highlighted that members of the Ministry of Communities have committed to providing this training.

But once all of these are in place, Adams shared that he hopes that the council will “hit the ground running”, since they have already identified certain areas that want to focus on first.

A major aim of the council is to develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the region. Adams explained that it is envisioned that a research centre will be established to ensure that all residents have access to internet services.

This centre is going to be located by the dorms of the Mahdia Secondary school, and the council has already received pledges from businesses to help with further development of the centre, the Mayor shared.

Heralding Mahdia’s elevation to township status was several infrastructural developments facilitated by the government and the regional administration body. There are now concrete roads, backed by an innovative draining system alongside it; a recreational area which has the Mahdia monument snuggled in between in and a radio station which operates about four times a week.

Though the community has received a massive facelift in recent times, the Mayor indicated that the water system and roadways are two areas that still require additional work. As such, the council will seek to dig more wells to enhance the water supply and work on developing the internal roadways.

Community beautification, through the nationwide community enhancement programme, and the disposal of garbage are two other areas that will garner the council’s focus in the coming weeks.

For both of these, Adams related that the ministry of communities has provided much support- both in the technical aspects and in providing the resources.

And of great importance is the drive to promote ecotourism, Adams noted.

“Well [Guyana] has been branded number one in the world for ecotourism and we want to capitalise on that. We are planning on identifying heritage sites and sites that people can come and visit and train guides to take them around,” he said

In so doing, the body has set up a tourism committee which will be looking to collaborate with the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) to understand the dynamics of venturing into tourism and how the region can begin to transform itself into a destination.

And this shouldn’t be too difficult, given the natural beauty of Mahdia. At any point in the community, mountains form a picturesque backdrop to the Mahdia scene. Specifically, in central Mahdia, the Ebini Mountain range encapsulates any visitor, and so do the plains of Eagle mountain- located to the range’s left- which make you want to sit on top and overlook all of Mahdia.

The trails in and around Mahdia offer nothing but excitement for those adventurous at heart- but this is only complimented by the trek to the historic Denham Bridge, in Garraway Stream, which connected the town with Bartica.

As explained by Adams, Mahdia has much to offer for persons willing to come and explore Guyana.