Dear Editor,
As I travel across the length and breadth of Region Two, I can see massive progress and improvement since the coalition assumed office, thanks to the wisdom and prudent management by the new Regional Chairman Devanand Ramdatt, and Regional Executive Officer (REO) Rupert Hopkinson. Pomeroon/ Supenaam for the past 23 years saw little or no development, and the region became stagnant with no investments, while unemployment was high. After the elections were won by AFC+APNU and David Granger became the President with Moses Nagamootoo being the Prime Minister, some people who were contractors and those who were employed in the public sector felt insecure, thinking that they will lose their jobs, but this did not happen. The new fresh democratic wind which is blowing across the country has a liberating impact.
Blackouts which were frequent are now a thing of the past; businessmen and residents are praising the coalition government and the Minister of Public Infrastructure for the reliable and regular supply of electricity. Today the once vulnerable power plant at Anna Regina is contributing 90 per cent of the region’s energy production. This region has a proud history of providing energy since Dr Cheddi Jagan brought the two new Wartsila power plants, but after his death in 1997, all his dreams were shattered and the plants were neglected by those who took over the government. There were long day and night blackouts; Essequibians became fed up, and some businessmen closed their businesses and migrated because they felt that things will never change and PPP would remain in office forever. When the APNU+AFC coalition assumed office in May, residents and businessmen had confidence that things would get better.
The two officers have given a new facelift to Essequibo. All the government reserves are being graded and will soon turn into children play parks. This is seen as a good move by the regional administration; it will prevent land-grabbing by some greedy businessmen who in the past were squatting on government reserves which were designed for ingress and egress in the event of an emergency. It will also help to beautify the township and the coast as a whole. The trenches within Three Friends/Walton Hall are spick and span, but as I ventured further into the New Road areas, the trenches on both sides of the public road are clogged up and grass is tall like a tree on the road shoulders. This area needs urgent cleaning and attention to avoid the flooding of the rice crops and housing areas.
Going south toward Queenstown village, the trenches are also clogged up, and when the rain falls the residents’ yards are flooded and the people are made to suffer. This situation was inherited by the new coalition government and the two new regional officers who are trying their best to arrest the situation. However, I have seen great improvement in the physical infrastructure and in institutional and administrative planning.
In Lima I saw a new pump which is being installed by contractor Doodnauth Samaroo and which is expected to be completed soon. This venture will help save thousands of acres of rice land from Anna Regina to Hampton Court from flooding in the rainy season and prevent farmers losing their entire crop as happened during the past administration; it will also help the housing areas. This project when finished will create the appropriate base for material prosperity and bring more land under cultivation.
Since the government assumed office, it has made massive investments in the agricultural sector. Millions of dollars in sea defences, river defences, pumps, drainage and irrigation systems, roads and training facilities have been invested in to create favourable conditions. I then decided to check further into the backdam to see if the rice farmers had gone back to their lands as I heard some gossip while driving that farmers would not go back to their lands because of the fall in paddy prices last crop. I was surprised to see that all the 35,500 acres of rice were under the plough and it was just a rumour spread by some people who want to give the government a bad name. I even saw some farmers reploughing their lands with water, while others had already sown their crops. The new coalition has brought new life to the region’s economic development, and diversification has become the cornerstone of the region. A strategic plan was formulated in May 2015 that will be the driving force of the region’s future.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
