— improving the lives of the citizenry, says Minister Edghill

PUBLIC Works Minister, Juan Edghill has emphasised the importance of innovative and modern public infrastructure, contending that accessibility plays a pivotal role in improving the lives of Guyanese.

Edghill was at the time making his contribution to the 2022 Budget Debate in the National Assembly on Thursday.
Budget 2022, he said is “realistic and futuristic”, pointing out that all programmes and policies outlined are forward-thinking and crafted through visionary planning.

The government has allocated the largest portion of the milestone $552.9B 2022 Budget to the Ministry of Public works. A total of $96.1 billion has been allocated to the ministry, which is responsible for the country’s infrastructure.

The budget, he told the House, was crafted specifically to give back to Guyanese and bring them out of poverty.
The government has allocated some $76.7 billion for roads and bridges under the Ministry of Public Works in the 2022 budget.

Setting the link between the projects and their effects, Minister Edghill explained that interconnectivity and accessibility have been known to impact every sector and reduce spending costs.

He noted that the business sector, including small business owners and farmers, especially, will benefit from improved infrastructure, noting that the major undertakings by the government will allow for the easy flow of agricultural produce across the country.

“They are urban roads or farm to market access roads opening up, superhighways. These are not roads that are leading to just a destination. For example, there will be a new superhighway from and the construction of the new four-lane superhighway from Schoonord while the road starts at Schoonord and ends up for Parika. It opens up opportunities.

It is not just leading to Parika, but it’s leading to prosperity, opportunities for housing, opportunities for farming. We have given incentives for large-scale plantation agriculture. Those roads open up those opportunities.”

BUILDING TOURISM
Minister Edghill noted that the modernisation of Guyana’s infrastructure directly impacts the country’s ability to build its capacity for tourism. He noted that in the 2022 budget, government is investing strategically to ensure roads are opened up to provide different tourism experiences as the government continues to push Guyana’s eco-tourism destinations.

He noted that tourism will not just bring in money for the country but has and continues to be a major avenue for job creation.
“We all know because we travel in the Caribbean; tourism is one of the sectors that create employment in a large-scale. We have to put in place the infrastructure to support tourism… we have to be able to put in place the infrastructure to ensure that the tourists who are coming here get to rent a car to drive and see the country,” said Minister Edghill.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND AGRICULTURE
Another sector that depends largely on public infrastructure, according to Minster Edghill, is the agriculture sector, which does not just benefit from roads for the transport of crops and other goods, but also the waterways.

Minister Edghill noted that following the flooding in 2022, due to unprecedented levels of rainfall, the government has invested in this year’s budget to significantly improve sea and river defences.

“Mr. Speaker, our investments in the infrastructure to accommodate agriculture to this budget provide $5 billion to support sea and river defences. But it’s not just boulders, rip-rap sea defence we are thinking about. We’re thinking about the thousands of farmers… so we are making the investments to secure agriculture.”

HINTERLAND DEVELOPMENT
The Public Works Minister also noted that hinterland development is top priority of the government. He stated that in 2021, the government bought tractors and the machinery for harvesting; plows and trailers to transport people in several hinterland communities.

In the 2022 budget, government has allocated some $3.4 billion for hinterland roads. In 2021, contracts to construct roads in hinterland communities were given to the people of those communities.

This is part of the government’s vision for an interconnected, accessible Guyana, he said.
“They just can’t have the tractor but you must be able to leave the communities, you know what that means? They must be able to move between villages. And Mr. Speaker, we didn’t only confine them to Region Eight. We are building the road from Region Nine to Region Eight so they could get out to Lethem and once they get out to Lethem they could get to any other part of this country.

That’s what we are doing with our infrastructure,” he said.
The minister also noted some of the major undertakings by the Ministry of Public Works.
“We have done in excess of 300 kilometers of community roads. We have had to respond to emergencies; the bridge that collapsed at Hogg Street, the Eastern highly leading to Congress place we fix it. We were trying to get it fixed before Congress.

We fixed the bridge in New Amsterdam at Glasgow; we fixed the bridge at Dennis Street. And we went on to fix a number of community bridges. We’ve installed more than 700 street lights covering a 30 kilometre area.”

According to Minster Edghill, the ministry’s special projects unit in 2021 also undertook the construction of all-weather roads from Moleson Creek to El Dorado, as well as pedestrian walkways, at Pouderoyen, Anna Regina, Tuschen, Albert Street and Vlissengen Road.