Dear Editor,
Over the past two years, the Rupununi Region, especially Lethem (the commercial and admimistrative hub), has slowly been undergoing a social and economic transformation, aimed at developing Lethem into one of Guyana’s major border towns. At the moment, Lethem can be seen as the only border location in Guyana where some amount of cross border trade is being carried on.
With the good news of the restart of construction of the Takutu river bridge and with construction of the Multi-purpose Complex underway, we anticipate significant movement of goods and services by this time next year. Yes, we do have other areas of concerns, which the Government of Guyana needs to address prior to the implementation of the IRTA and Partial Scope Agreements, such as significant and sensible upgrading of the Lethem to Linden road corridor and the improvement of vital utility services in the region.
The government must be commended for their efforts in making Region 9 into one of Guyana’s main tourist destinations. We have also seen renewed energy and focus in the area of agriculture and education.
The commitment of large sums of monies for infrastructral works has been noted and should the government see it fit to include stakeholders of the region, especially the private sector, in monitoring the performance of contractors and officials, surely these sums of monies can be spent wisely throught the region.
The continued unavailiability and unreliability of our electricity and water sectors still need to be looked at, despite government spending huge sums of monies in these areas. Proper management of these important facilities must be established to ensure success and once again, I wish to avail the services of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), to the Government of Guyana, to ensure effective monitoring of the above mentioned areas of concerns.
We currently enjoy an excellent working relationship with the regional administration of Region 9 and we are eager to begin a sucessful private / public sector partnership with the Government of Guyana. We hope that they will accept that together we can double the success that we have achieved so far in the Rupununi.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Gajie
President
Rupununi Chamber
of Commerce and Industry
