MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development, Sonia Parag, last evening met with the Guyanese diaspora in Qatar and provided them with details of the massive transformational developments taking place across Guyana.
Parag, who is currently in the Middle East attending the Earthna Summit hosted by the Earthna Centre for a Sustainable Future, highlighted that the government has been quite strategic in balancing its push for progress with responsibilities towards the environment and combatting climate change.
“We want to ensure that we remain strong, even after oil is gone,” she said.

Against this backdrop, she indicated that Guyana’s oil wealth is being responsibly utilised to develop and diversify non-oil sectors such as agriculture, tourism and energy generation.
She indicated that the current administration is committed to striking a healthy balance and further added, “Ensuring food and energy security is a top priority for this People’s Progressive Party/Civic government.”

Further to this, she pointed to specific initiatives such as the landmark gas-to-energy project and the Amaila Falls Hydropower project, which are part of an energy mix being pursued under the updated Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.
The LCDS, Parag disclosed, will see hydropower plants and wind and solar farms being set up to feed into the national grid and, as such, provide reliable electricity at significantly reduced costs.
The minister also shared President Ali’s vision of making Guyana a food-and-energy hub for the Caribbean.

She told the diaspora that the government has been investing heavily in education, further delivering over 30,000 scholarships to citizens all across the country.
“We also returned and increased the education cash grants,” Minister Parag noted. The grant, which was stopped under the Coalition Government, was reinstated in 2020 and increased to $55,000.
Additionally, the government has expanded internet connectivity to some of the most remote communities in the country and, as such, is able to offer improved academic opportunities to hinterland children.
These efforts have also resulted in the use of telemedicine to offer better medical care to hinterland residents.

At the community level, Minister Parag said that all Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) are being equipped with excavators to address drainage and agricultural issues, with firefighting pickups to be able to respond and assist their communities as trained first responders, and soon enough, with mini-compactor garbage trucks which will ease the longstanding discomfort that stems from delayed garbage disposal.

NDCs, she noted, will also receive substantial increases in their annual government subventions, moving from $5 million to $30 million, even as the subventions to municipalities have increased from $10 million to $50 million.
“We want to empower our communities to serve the people,” Minister Parag said, pointing to the fact that every roadway and every community ground in the country is slated for repairs and rehabilitation.
“These are just some of what’s happening back home in Guyana,” Minister Parag told the gathering.