Over 90,000 street lights, 2000 security cameras set for installation nationwide – VP

Vice President (VP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday said that more than 90,000 street lights and some 2000 security cameras are awaiting installation in communities across Guyana as the Government moves ahead with major infrastructure upgrades in communities countrywide.

The VP noted that garbage compactors have already been purchased for almost all Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and townships as the Government works to improve drainage, sanitation and security in communities.
Jagdeo made the disclosure while speaking with Journalists on the side-lines of his Public Day on Monday, held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, which was opened to the public to allow citizens to raise concerns directly with Government Ministers and officials.
Hundreds of Guyanese attended the outreach seeking assistance with a range of issues affecting their communities and personal circumstances.
Speaking to reporters, the VP explained that the outreach was structured to allow residents to engage Ministers directly based on the specific issues they wished to address.
“People have come here hoping to get their issues resolved, and you have several Ministers here. We have now separated people by issues, and they’re in each room having a one-on-one interaction with the Ministers, and I’ll be moving around meeting people. Later, I’ll meet with them separately,” Jagdeo said.
He added, “Hopefully at the end of the day we’ll be able to resolve many of the issues faced by many of our people, and even if we can’t resolve it today, we’ll set out a process through which we can resolve it by meeting them subsequently or alternatively talking to the technical staff to address them.”
According to the VP, many of the concerns raised by residents centred around drainage, garbage collection and street lighting in communities.
“We heard a lot about issues surrounding drainage in the community, garbage collection, lights in the community, and the things that we identified in the campaign and we are now addressing. We have not been able to address this fully as yet,” he said.
Providing an update on the Government’s infrastructure plans, Jagdeo disclosed that tens of thousands of streetlights are already in Guyana awaiting installation.
“For example, we have nearly 90,000 street lights that are in the country now that we need to install in villages and wards in the city. We have started the drainage programme. We’re going to now have to accelerate that,” he stated.
The VP also noted that Government is moving ahead with plans to strengthen security in communities through the installation of surveillance cameras.
“We are putting in security cameras, which is what we promised [during the 2025 elections campaign]. This year, maybe about 2000 of those would go across the country in the villages to enhance security; a lot of those things we promised,” Jagdeo said.
Addressing garbage disposal and sanitation concerns, he noted that the Government has already acquired garbage compactors for local democratic organs and is now working to establish additional disposal sites.
“The garbage – we already bought compactors for almost all the NDCs and the townships. And now we are preparing places for people to take the garbage because for some of the NDCs, you have to travel a long distance,” he explained.
Jagdeo acknowledged that while the Government has begun addressing many of the issues raised during the election campaign, some citizens have grown impatient with the pace of implementation.
“But sometimes people become a little bit impatient, so they come. So a lot of those things people have come about,” he said.