–President Ali says; highlights series of improvements in Region Seven that benefits residents
AS Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) continues to stand as an important player in the expansion of a number of sectors, President Dr Irfaan Ali has said that Bartica is poised to become an important development hub.
He made those remarks during an outreach in Agatash village on Friday, when he laid out the development plan that will take place in not only the community, but the region, overall.
As he outlined the government’s vision in continuing to enhance the various sectors such as health and education, in order to benefit the Guyanese people, the Head of State stated: “One of the priorities of the government is to create an environment in which the people are included in their own decision-making.
“The people are included in identifying their priorities and what can advance life in their community, because the most important thing for us in this government is to build prosperity to every single community, regardless of how small that community is and how large that community is.”
He added: “We have been working with every single community across the country to enhance productivity, build livelihood options, bring prosperity and advance the development of people all across our country.”
As he reflected on the lack of investments under the previous coalition government, Dr Ali, with evidence, showed that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration is a government that fulfils its promises and even goes beyond, all in the name of bringing betterment to the citizens.
“Today, I could stand here and say with a clear conscience, we have fulfilled all our manifesto commitments and we are working on bonus now,” he told the scores of residents.
Since returning to office, the PPP/C government has not only restored the ‘Because We Care’ grant, but it has also invested heavily in agriculture, human services and health, among other things.
With that said, the President told the villagers that their children have gotten more than $25 million in the ‘Because We Care’ grant, which the APNU+AFC government had terminated.
Noting that the PPP/C government understood the difficulties in attaining learning materials, Dr Ali disclosed that $2.8 million was given to the schools within the village to support learning.
Additionally, close to $12 million was expended to improve drainage and irrigation and rehabilitate drainage networks within the village.
Notably, Dr Ali spent some time highlighting how the country’s landmark Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 is directly benefiting the villages.
For Agatash, $24 million was transferred and this aided them in carrying out a number of community initiatives and projects, such as purchasing a school bus.
“This is not fairytale story. This is the real story of development. This is the real story of your government developing and delivering to you,” the President said.
Further, as Guyana undergoes its rapid transformation, it is clear that the government is not leaving any community behind, as President Ali engaged the residents on not only the expansion of their village, but also how they can link food production into the township of Bartica among other critical elements in the chain of development.
He also said that in order for the village to enter into a new phase of development, they must discuss how they can build a system to execute the upskilling of the human resources.
The Head of State also focused on the Timehri-Bartica road and the role it will play in boosting connectivity.
The cutting of the alignment of the road from Sand Hills to Bartica is a project that will improve the commute between the coast and the hinterland, by significantly reducing travel time.
With that in mind, he said: “So Bartica is going to become an important development hub, a tremendous investment will take place in this hub.”