CREATING opportunities within the municipality for youths and working on the beautification of the municipality are the two main focus for the town of Bartica, according to Mayor Gifford Marshal.

Speaking on the sidelines of the National Conference of Local Democratic Organs (NCLDO) last week, Marshall said given that youths in the area do not have as many opportunities as those on the coastland, the municipality is taking it upon itself to bridge that gap.
“We want to continue to work with our youths to provide opportunities for them to develop themselves,” Marshall said.

The event saw the feature address being delivered by President David Granger, who, during his speech, urged the municipalities and other LDOs present to do more for the youths in their respective areas.

Marshall noted that one way of addressing the issue of disparity is exploring ways to get young people to the programmes.

“We do not have a tertiary level institution in Bartica, as a result, it is difficult for young people to advance. So through scholarships programmes and other initiatives we’re hoping to have our young people improve themselves,” Marshall noted.
Improved awareness of scholarship opportunities was an issue that was also brought up earlier this year, in June when the government held a ministerial outreach in Bartica and visited several outlying communities.

Marshall pointed out that much work is also on the books for further enhancement of the appearance of the town. Bartica, like the nine other municipalities across the country, received an $18 million subvention from central government in the 2019 national budget to carry out works in the township

“We’re focusing heavily for the next couple of months on the beautification of the town, so in the coming weeks, you will see some major transformation where our roads are concerned. Sidewalks, also, will be constructed and we should re-start our tree-planting programmes. We started that a few years ago but we had some problems due to the animals on the street. We’ve fixed that so we’re working on a massive beautification programme for the municipality now,” Marshall shared.

Since becoming a town in 2016, Bartica has put major focus on developing on its name as a local tourism spot, taking several steps towards the beautification of the town including the commissioning of the first boardwalk in Guyana at the Golden Beach, in 2018.