MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr., has confirmed that, in the last five years, over $1 billion has been expended on community grounds improvement in Berbice. This initiative, he emphasised, will continue to ensure that safe and supportive spaces are developed for communities and young people, helping to deter them from negative or unproductive activities.

“Up here in Berbice, we would have spent over a billion dollars in the last five years because there’s just so many grounds, so many villages, and they were all in a bad shape and during the APNU period, they actually had cut their budget by 66%,” Minister Ramson told this newspaper during a recent visit to Berbice.

“You need continuous investments in community grounds,” he added.

He further explained that many of the new and existing housing schemes either never had a recreational ground or were in dire need of development.

“Over this period of time, you would have also seen there were either housing schemes that were developed that never had a community ground before, so we started to develop that, or new housing schemes that were opened or many areas where grounds were never developed at all, so that’s the reason why we had to spend so much money on community grounds.”

Minister Ramson highlighted that the enhancement of these community facilities plays a pivotal role in improving the quality of life for residents. He revealed that almost 90 grounds countrywide were being equipped with lighting this year, further boosting accessibility and usability.

According to Ramson, the installation of lights at community grounds enables greater use of these facilities. With the necessary lights in place, activities can be kept in the evening at the various grounds, he said, underscoring the government’s ongoing commitment to developing inclusive, safe, and vibrant community spaces across the country.