Urgent river dredging, security upgrades & modern facilities for Goed Fortuin fisherfolks

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Tuesday morning met with fisherfolks at Goed Fortuin Village, West Bank Demerara (WBD), where he ordered the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to commence dredging of the river channel to better accommodate the fishing boats.

According to one of the fishermen, there are approximately 42 boats operating in the area. The fishermen raised concerns about the environment in which they work, security issues at night, and the lack of proper facilities to dock their boats.
To this, the Head of State indicated that the Government will commence work to not only dredge the river closer to the banks but also erect lights in the area, and build “proper” walkways and wharf facilities for the fisherfolks.
“We want to ensure people work in a good environment,” Ali said, adding that “we have to create a healthy space so that you can retail and wholesale from the same location – that’s the objective, so people can drive up here and [purchase].”
The President was accompanied by the Head of the NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth, whom he instructed to commence drainage and irrigation works, and Assistant Superintendent Maniram Jagnandan, who was asked to address the security concerns.
“The first thing I want to do here is clean up on both sides and put in two concrete walkways, for security problems in the nights, we can work out and get a patrol here,” the President indicated. In the long run, Dr Ali also noted that the Government will be working on storage and packaging facilities for fisherfolks across the country. He noted that value-added products are a more lucrative business, which can elevate the lives of fishermen, to which the men were open to learn about. “Once the PPP in Government, fishermen gon get help. I want us to identify land to do prawns, swamp shrimp production, crab production…we are bringing in the people from the Philippines, but it is not just giving you that, it is building right here a processing facility so they can take the crab and get the crab meat and package it. You don’t have to invest in that, the Government will invest in the storage and all of these things,” he explained.
The President was also accompanied by Agriculture Ministry, Zulfikar Mustapha, who will soon commence work with the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) to work on the packaging facilities.