Major infrastructure upgrades, school transportation for St Ignatius, surrounding communities

– Reg 9 to get passport office in 1 month, ICT training centre

President Dr Irfaan Ali spent his last few hours in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) on Sunday in the community of St Ignatius, where he announced several major infrastructural works to be undertaken as well as committed to addressing the transportation woes of school children from several villages.
Addressing residents, the Head of State disclosed that $5 million dollars will be transferred to St Ignatius in the coming days for the rebuilding of the community’s benab.

In addition to this, work will soon commence to rehabilitate roads in the community. According to President Ali, two contracts have already been awarded in this regard – one to complete revetment works to the tune of $130 million and the other is $80 million for the construction of two bridges and upgrading of 1 kilometre of the road from St Ignatius to Stock Farm.
“That is $210 million of investment to make your lives better, to make your lives easier,” he noted.
Also, for St Ignatius, he announced that another $5 million will be injected to rehabilitate the pavilion and other amenities at the community centre ground.
This was much needed, as highlighted by a villager who pointed out that the St Ignatius Sports Club has been representing Region Nine in many national events and needed proper facilities including a well-maintained ground to practice and play sport.

Transportation for students
Another issue that was repeated during the engagement on Sunday afternoon was the need for new and additional vehicles, buses, in particular, to transport children to and from school. Some students have to leave their communities and travel to other villages in order to get to school.
It was highlighted that in some instances, this added transportation costs that parents are burdened with, especially when it rains and the roadways are difficult to traverse; while in other cases, it was explained that the buses that some villages already have are inadequate to transport the growing number of students to school.
Among the villages requesting additional vehicles are St Ignatius, Kumu, Moco Moco and Quarrie.
The President committed to having these transportation woes addressed, adding that he is pleased to see that in some areas where there were no opportunities for schooling, there are now growing numbers of school children.
He reminded that in order to support this and other critical community work, the Government through the Regional Executive Office (REO) is already providing 10 gallons of gasoline to each village in the region on a weekly basis.
Further, requests were also made for several schools to be expanded as well as for the school feeding programme in at least one school to also be extended to accommodate the growing population of students.

ICT training centre
While committing to having these matters addressed, the President also promised to look into the establishment of an ICT training centre in the region to equip residents with computer training.
“Between Lethem and St Ignatius, we have to find a solution because it is not the ICT hub that you really need. What we need is to set up an ICT training centre because we have a lot of students who are registered on the GOAL [Scholarship] Programme from these two communities and who will be registered for the online Teachers’ Training Programme. So, we have to build one ICT facility to support all these ICT-related trainings,” the Head of State pointed out.
In fact, earlier the President had informed the residents gathered that his Government would be working on a comprehensive programme across the region to rehabilitate, and build where necessary, proper accommodation facilities for teachers and healthcare workers in every community across the region.
“…The communities themselves must be involved in the building of these facilities so that jobs can be created. We must use the local material and the local labour,” he stated.
Ali, during his three-day visit, has already rolled out several measures that will see the Government working with communities to support programmes such as the Hinterland Housing Project. This includes the investment of $10 million in Shulinab Village to produce 300,000 clay bricks for the housing programme in the region.
The Head of State said they are now negotiating with other communities across Central and South Rupununi to build over two million blocks to support the housing drive.

“That is how you help community economies. That is to bring close to $50 million of business directly to your communities. This is real development… This is about the understanding needs of people and responding to those needs,” he contended.
According to the President, whatever areas communities are experts in, the Government will work with them to enhance and develop that activity.

Passport office
Meanwhile, the Head of State stated that a passport office will be established in the region. In fact, he indicated that he will have discussions with Cabinet upon his return to Georgetown and within one month, residents can expect to see the office set up in Lethem.
He also announced during the outreach that the Government will be procuring additional equipment and giving it to the regional administration so that they can do maintenance works in communities such as Moco Moco, where the road is in terrible condition.
“The Moco Moco road and the condition of that road requires urgent attention. We’ve already set aside $80 million that will be invested for the Moco Moco road,” the Head of State further noted.
In addition, President Ali revealed that in next year’s budget, provisions will be made to work with the villages of Kumu and Quarrie to develop their tourism product. He said the personnel will be trained and deployed to the villages to operate the guest houses and undertake other initiatives to enhance tourism there.
Joining the Head of State at the outreach were Amerindian Affairs Minister Pauline Sukhai, Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues, and Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall.