–Bartica mayor says, as town celebrates fourth anniversary

BARTICA Mayor Gifford Marshall on Monday gave the ‘Coalition government’ a clean bill of health, saying that as far as he is concerned, Guyana is in good hands.

The vote of confidence of sorts was occasioned by the celebration of the fourth anniversary as a town of a community once regarded as the ‘Gateway to the Hinterland’. It also followed Mayor Marshall’s regaling his audience with a history of how it all unfolded, from the day President David Granger, who was still in opposition at the time, sent Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan a note asking that they meet to discuss the making of Mabaruma, Madhia, Bartica and Lethem into ‘towns’, to the day it all officially came together four years ago.

Said he, “If you understand what has happened here, you will understand that this country is in good hands, and this country is being directed by a higher force. You have to understand vision and purpose.”

The event began with the usual pomp and ceremony reserved for such occasions, with visiting members of the constabularies of Linden and Georgetown putting on a colourful march past outside the Bartica Town Hall, as Mayor Marshall took the salute along with other town officials.

“Bartica is now more than a gateway to the interior,” he said. “It’s no longer seen as a ‘landing’ or ‘a stopover’, but as Guyana’s model ‘green’ town; the capital town of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region.”

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
He listed as being among some of the transformative developments to have since taken place in the town the installation of modern street lights; a brand new West Indian Green Park; a newly-built Bartica Boulevard; the rehabilitation of the Municipal Market; and the redesigning of the municipal dumpsite.

The mayor further told the gathering of present and past councillors, church leaders and personnel from the Linden and Georgetown municipalities that the future is bright for the town, as among the many developments in train are the commissioning of the special needs school; the continuation of the paving of concrete roads; the construction of a magistrate court, a sports Centre and a new power plant.

Also on the cards, he said, is the establishment of a constabulary unit of the council, all of which are geared towards positively impacting the lives of the town’s residents.
Ably supported by his hardworking councillors, Town Clerk Phebe Wallerson and Deputy Mayor Arita Embleton, Mayor Marshall said that the municipality will be redoubling its beatification efforts in the coming months, as Project Green Pathway continues with the planting of trees alongside the roads, parks and open spaces. Also on the cards is the signing of an agreement to have a forest-protected area in the township.

OTHER PLANS
In addition the mayor plans to have education remain a major priority for the municipality, and that as such he plans to continue the scholarship programme, and will make representation to have Central Government build the town’s first technical institute, aimed at developing the youths of Bartica.

These initiatives, he explained, are in keeping with the township’s ‘green agenda’, and efforts to make Bartica a true tourism hub.

He went on to say that with Bartica producing all of the stone being used in the construction industry, the Council will continue to lobby Central Government for a subvention from the mining that takes place in the township, given the need to have finances to undertake the many projects in keeping with its capital township status.
Also present at the ceremony were Linden Town Clerk Orleena Obermuller, Acting Town Clerk of Georgetown Sherry Jerrick, and Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) Chairman Gordon Bradford.