…businesses encroaching on road
Minister within the Natural Resources Ministry, Simona Broomes, is examining how operations at mining landings, particularly Puruni, can be better regularised.
Puruni Landing is strategically located in Mazaruni, Region Seven, and connects the lower and middle Mazaruni in Mining District Three. It is a thriving business hub and many miners have taken up residence there, with elaborate buildings and structures, some of which encroach on the roadway and water crossing.
While the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) grants yearly licences for business and residential purposes in mining districts, however, that permission does not include the establishment of permanent structures.
“So all these buildings that are going up around here, they are going up at a risk: no permission. Meaning to say, if somebody comes tomorrow and say, you got to take it down, you got to take it down,” Minister Broomes told miners and shop operators during a meeting on Sunday at the Puruni Landing.
Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC), Trevor Benn accompanied the minister on her follow-up visit to the Puruni Landing. During the meeting, Benn encouraged operators to visit the GLSC’s Bartica Office to regularise their status.
“For those of you who want to make the area your residence, your home, you have no security of tenure. You have no security to the land that you are on, and the only way you can do that is by applying to get a full lease for the land that you are occupying,” Benn is quoted by the Department of Public Information as saying.
The GLSC will be working with the GGMC to survey the area and plan the way forward to ensure regularisation is achieved. Minister Broomes pointed out this is critical to the development of infrastructure at Puruni.
“Some businesses that are encroaching on the road got to be moved; (those) businesses that will disturb the development that is coming that way. So it is very, very important,” Minister Broomes noted.
Government has budgeted for the construction of a bridge over the Puruni River, where the crossing currently exists.
Meanwhile, Minister Broomes pointed out that regularisation is also aimed at deterring those who are exploiting the system.
She explained that business operators and miners are paying paltry sums for their licences, while erecting extravagant buildings and businesses in these mining districts.
“GRA has to go in there with what is happening. The Guyana Gold Board…a lot of business (is happening) right there.”
The minister will also be collaborating with other ministries and agencies to address other issues, including security, trafficking, and health in the Puruni backdam.
