“Open your eyes and see the development” – Armogan tells Whim residents

…as $45B is spent on road upgrades

Chairman of Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), David Armogan, has called on Corentyne residents to open their eyes and look at the developments which have taken place under the current administration.
As he addressed residents of Whim village on the Corentyne Coast during a community meeting, Region Six Chairman David Armogan declared that anyone can be fooled.

Declaring that some 2000 jobs were lost from the Rose Hall Sugar Estate and 1500 were lost from the Skeleton Sugar Estate when those two estates were shut down by the APNU/AFC administration, he
pointed out many promises were made by the APNU/AFC, but none was ever fulfilled.
Among the promises the APNU/AFC had made, he said, was that if they were elected into government, they would ensure that rice farmers are paid $9000 per bag of paddy. However, after taking office, when they were approached by rice farmers who were seeking better prices for their paddy, the then President, David Granger, told them that rice farming was not government’s business.
“They said that it is an arrangement between the farmer and miller. President Granger also said it is not Government’s responsibility to find jobs; that is for the private sector. We have been finding jobs. Many of those who were severed from the Rose Hall Estate we have rehired, and we have reopened the estate,” Armogan reminded as he called on residents to look at the track record of APNU/AFC in government.
“Over the four and a half years under the Irfaan Ali- led administration, we have reinstated the school children cash grant which was taken away by the previous administration. Not only that, but we have increased it to $55,000. Under public infrastructure, we have developed so many roads…,” he detailed.
Chairman Armogan also spoke about healthcare improvement within Region Six, where two new hospitals are being built, one of which would shortly be opened under the health sector.
According to Armogan, schools were run down under the previous administration.
“They believed that most of the people in Region Six supported the PPP [People’s Progressive Party], and so they wanted you to punish and they allowed all of the schools to run down. Since we came back into government, we have repaired all of the schools, and those that were nor fixed will be fixed this year.”
Armogan noted that although he was not boasting about what has been done to improve the lives of citizens, development has been so abundant in the region that it has resulted in a shortage of labour in the private sector. “Many in the private sector have been importing labour from overseas,” he said.
“Open your eyes and see the development!” he urged.

Upgrade
Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar, has said that since this administration took office in August 2020, $45 billion has been spent in Region Six to upgrade the road network, and every community has benefited from those upgrades.
Pointing out that, in 2020, some 16 community roads were upgraded in the region, he said 44 community roads were upgraded in 2021 and 436 were upgraded in 2022; while 316 were upgraded in 2023 under first phase of government’s road improvement programme, and 533 were upgraded in phase two of the same programme. He added that 258 roads were upgraded last year, and 259 are slated to be upgraded this year.
“Just imagine! $45 billion for building roads, and the money goes to nobody else outside of Region Six! I can tell you that in this region there are hawks; they make sure that the people that work here in the region and have some capacity are given the work. So, the money stayed in the region,” he detailed.
“You’re going to build your concrete road, you hire some staff, you do it, you make your money, the people that work for you make money; we create jobs in the process,” he explained. “You have got to get an excavator operator; he gets a job. You have got to get a man to fix the excavator; you’ve got to get a foreman; you have got to get workers to tie steel…,” he detailed, adding, “All of this work is created, so when the money is spent and the investment is made by the Government, it goes into the hands of the people of the region. And that is a very important point! It didn’t go to nobody else! We spent $45 billion, just think about the magnitude of money!” he admonished.
“That is just on the roads and bridges; the small road and small bridge,” he added.