DRAINAGE works are expected to commence soon in Manchester and Number 53 Village in Region Six, according to Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha.

According to a Ministry of Agriculture press release, the minister visited several villages along the Corentyne Coast on Saturday and engaged residents on some of the issues faced in the communities. He was accompanied by a team of officials from the ministry and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and several PPP/C constituency representatives.

The visit was a result of some of the issues that were raised when he was in New Amsterdam with President, Dr. Irfaan Ali a few days ago.

“I committed to coming today to see firsthand what were some of the issues and how we can resolve them. The main issues raised were drainage and improved access within their communities. So, as early as next week in Manchester, we’ll start desilting the internal drains. There is also a major canal at the back of that village that we’ll do work on. I’ve asked the engineer to send a machine by Monday to start those works,” Minster Mustapha was quoted in the release as saying.

The release added that as it relates to Number 53 Village, Minister Mustapha said that the ministry is also scheduled to commence works to upgrade the drainage infrastructure.

“In Number 53 Village, there are some drainage issues that we’ll tackle immediately. We’ll construct some culverts and so on because we engaged the residents and these were the requests they made. We are committed to working with everyone and it is clear that Guyanese want development. They are seeing that this government is all about development and given the response and the welcome received I know that we have the support,” the minister added.

One resident from Manchester Village told the minister that there are many young people in the community in need of jobs who are interested in agriculture.

According to the ministry, Minister Mustapha explained that there were opportunities in agriculture for youths and that he would soon be launching the president’s Agriculture and Innovation Entrepreneurship Programme (AEIP) in the area.

“I’ll also be coming back to Manchester soon because a resident indicated that a number of youths want to get involved in agriculture cultivating high-value crops. You know the president established that programme and said that we will replicate it nationwide. So, I’ll work with the community to identify the youths and soon we’ll be back to launch that programme in the Manchester/Lancaster/ Liverpool area,” he said, according to the release.