This week the Pepperpot Magazine visited the countryside village of Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara and featured the people, their way of life and the village.

UITVLUGT is a large place that extends from the foreshore to way down to the backlands area and it is divided into several sections.

Uitvlugt is divided into Ocean View, #2 Housing Scheme, Casbah, Pasture, the pre-fabrication/ Venezuelan Housing Scheme, De Groot Incline and the New Housing Scheme.

Uitvlugt Village (Carl Croker photos)

It is home to about 8,000 people of mixed ethnicities but mostly Indo and Afro-Guyanese.

Uitvlugt Village has six churches, two mandirs, two mosques and other buildings, including three nursery schools, the only surviving Uitvlugt/Leonora Sugar Estate on that corridor, the Estate Dispensary, the primary schools, the Community Centre Ground and the Uitvlugt Secondary School.

The village comes under the Tuschen/Uitvlugt Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and it is located between the villages of Zeeburg and Stewartville.

The community has a lot of internal streets, some of which were recently re-surfaced into an all-weather road, street lights, good infrastructure, electricity, potable water supply, internet and landline services.

The community is a place of many houses, small, medium and large sizes and some very interesting designs, which add a touch of colour to the landscape.

Many residents have budding flower gardens, while, others have their own kitchen gardens, growing fruits and vegetables.

Some folk have their place clean and well-kept while, others can do with some garbage collection.

NDC Developmental Highlights
The Chairman of the Uitvlugt/Tuschen Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Ramzan Ali, told the Pepperpot Magazine that recently they completed and replaced two bridges that were rotten with reinforced concrete bridges at Ocean View Mandir Street and at Anchor Bridge.

He reported that they constructed a walkway path at the pasture area and are presently placing boulders to strengthen the sea defence at Ocean View to prevent overtopping during the high tide.

Ali added that generally they have been maintaining drains, canals, and trenches in the entire Uitvlugt village and parapets have also been weeded.

“We are doing some concrete drains in Uitvlugt Pasture and also strengthening the road shoulders, since the internal streets are a one-vehicle stretch and other upgrading of roads,” he said.

In addition, the NDC Chairman stated that they have cleaned interlocking drains in the village and have embarked on a clean-up campaign to rid the village of garbage.

He explained that refuse disposal remains an issue in this village-like most and he is encouraging villagers to dispose of their waste properly, instead of dumping plastic bags with household garbage into the drainage canals and trenches.

Ali added that some people continue to dump garbage indiscriminately into the canals, trenches and drains and when it rains and the place is flooded, the NDC would get the blame; but he insisted they are doing their part and people need to keep their surroundings clean.

He admitted that Uitvlugt Village is a large catchment area and they would maintain the infrastructure when they can with the resources at hand.

Ali noted that Uitvlugt Village is not a neglected place and they have benefitted from infrastructural developments in recent times.