Moblissa gets modern community centre, power supply

…as DDL’s investment bear fruit

Residents of Moblissa on the Linden Soesdyke Highway, will now have access to a modern and upgraded community centre which was funded by Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL).

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Sunday was DDL’s Project Manager, Wesly Kirton who highlighted that this investment is part of the organisation’s effort to establish a stronger relationship with members of the community.
He reveled that the need for the urgent rehabilitation of the building was recognised during a community visit last year.
“We had a community Christmas party in what was a half-built building. No windows, no flooring, no windows and among the guests was the chairman and among the people at the Christmas party were a number of children and the chairman said to me, Wesley, I want you to have this community centre rehabilitated.”
He added “The architects found that the building was unsafe, that it had no foundation and that the logical thing to do was to put it down and construct an entirely new building which we have done and we want this to be a shining example of how a community and a private sector organisation can work together.”
Also present at the ceremony was DDL Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Komal Samaroo, who reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment towards giving back to communities. As such he noted that the milk which will be produced at the new state-of-the-art US$20 million dairy farm located in the area will be trademarked with the village name.
“In our marketing campaign, when we start talking about fresh packaged milk, we will say this milk was produced at Moblissa so we will be putting Moblissa on the map.”
He added that, the dairy farm will also create job opportunities for residents. “We create jobs for people in this community persons who, once they apply themselves will be trained to operate and manage this dairy project. Which will employ almost 100 persons.”
Moreover, the chairman revealed that the company will need some 10 million pounds of fruits annually for their Topco brand. As such he noted that some of these fruits could be sourced from the community.
“We need 10 million pounds of fruits a year. We are looking for people to grow fruits which we buy, process and make pulp and we have engaged NAREI (National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute) to help you with technical advice on what are the fruits best for your land and how you grow it and we have brought on board The Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) to help you to fund your project and to guide you on the business principle.”
Additionally, the chairman also revealed that due to the construction of the new dairy farm, residents for the first time in history will be able to have access to electricity.
Giving a detailed description of the system was Project Consultant on electrification Elwyn Marshall who is also a former senior executive of the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL). He revealed that a new transmission line will be constructed from Amelias ward in Linden to the community.
“Initially, the thought was that we would just extend that line up to the junction but because of the length of the line and the power requirements of the dairy farm, what was decided is that they would build a new line in Linden, which starts at Toucan Drive, in Amelia’s ward.”
According to Marshall, this new power line would not only benefit residents of Moblissa but will also reduce the load on the Amelia’s ward power grid.
“That would allow residents in that vicinity to have power once they do the necessary arrangement with Linden Electricity Company Inc. Another side benefit would be that because we are building a new line and offloading some of the load on the existing line. Persons in Amelia’s ward would have a better voltage supply because with a smaller load they would then have a better voltage.”
Guyana Times understands that a 750 Kilo-volt-amperes (kVA) transformer will be employed to power the new electrical line, which is set to span approximately 25 kilometres in total.
Moreover, the project will utilise modern concrete polls to support the new transmission line, these polls will last significantly longer compared to the traditionally wooden pools used in the past.
In addition to a new community centre, a playground was also commissioned in the community. The play ground was donated by the Gayle Foundation which since 2010 has established some 15 playgrounds across Guyana.