-President Ali assures residents during outreach

PRESIDENT Dr. Irfaan Ali has given his commitment to resolving several issues residents of 58 Miles in Region 10 have been facing for quite some time.

President Ali and several of his ministers on Sunday visited the community which is located along the Mabura Road to listen to the concerns of residents and offer solutions.

During his engagement with the residents, he stated that building a country for 2030 and beyond requires hard work and vision even, as he added that the government has a very strategic vision for the 58 Miles community and Great Falls.

“This community and you in these communities will see the transformation that is taking place around you,” President Ali said.

Among some of the issues raised as immediate concerns were the extreme dry weather which is causing tremendous hardship as it has caused a water shortage.

Against this backdrop, he stated that while they have commenced work on a longer-term solution to have more water storage capacity and capability, the government will commit to having some 50 black tanks delivered to the community before the end of the new week.

Residents said that another major issue they face is the lack of transportation. After they requested a community bus, President Ali committed to having the Amerindian Affairs Minister return to the community before the end of the year to deliver a bus.

In relation to providing opportunities, Dr Ali said that while heavy investments have been made in the sawmill in the community, there must be a push to have more value-added products created there.
“So, we’re going to support…. you to ensure that long before the end of this year you acquire a wood plane to help you with value-added,” he iterated.

With this in mind, he stated that there was a company that had advertised for the supply of lumber for the ongoing gas-to-shore project and as such, the government will have the company come to the community to ascertain the quantity of lumber that they can possibly source from the community for the project.

“Outside of this we are going to send the Ministry of Housing into the community to talk to you to see how you can become a supplier for the housing project that we have in Linden because we have a big housing project that we are going to do in Linden, the young professional houses… let us see how we integrate the sawmill into the supply chain there so we create economic wealth, we create economic opportunity,” he added.

Meanwhile, several other interventions were made which include the commitment to providing all-terrain vehicles for the 47-mile area, solar units for the schools along with the provision of sporting equipment for young people.

Further to this, the head of state noted that a data centre will also be put together to support online education. This, according to him will be done in tandem with the setting up of the telemedicine facility in the community which will include a separate facility on the outside where children can go and study and have access to the internet.