THE village of New Forest, East Canje, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), will soon benefit from first-time access to potable water and electricity.

This was according to Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, who led an outreach to the village on Tuesday.

Minister Rodrigues’ visit was a follow-up to President, Dr. Irfaan Ali’s meeting held at the Rose Hall Welfare Ground as part of a Cabinet outreach last Monday.

The minister was accompanied by Regional Chairman, David Armogan, and a team of technical officers from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and the Ministry of Public Works.

New Forest is a cash-crop farming community, which is sparsely populated with about 20 households.

For decades, the residents have been without potable water, and are mostly dependent on the Canje Creek, while some practise rain-water harvesting. Some of the residents also have generators for electricity.

Minister Rodrigues assured residents that a thorough assessment will be done immediately by GWI to bring relief in the short, as well as long–term.

The possibility of reviving an old existing well will also be explored. Discussions will be held with the GuySuCo Rose Hall Estate on the possibility of extending electricity to the area.

During her remarks, Minister Rodrigues restated the government’s commitment to safeguarding the livelihood of its people by ensuring that basic necessities are available in every village, regardless of location.

“The government is serious about ensuring that the people are taken care of. You hear a lot about oil and gas and development coming to our country and the President talked about the developments coming to your region like the new airport and the stadium. And while we celebrate those developments, we want to make sure the people at the community level are comfortable,” the minister said.

She added that the exercise was necessary, and was part of a countrywide consultation aimed at getting first–hand knowledge of issues affecting citizens to develop relevant policies and programmes.

Minister Rodrigues and the team also met with residents of Gangaram and Betsy Ground to address similar issues. That meeting was held at the Betsy Ground Primary School.