Perhaps the main challenge facing Bartica at this time is the decision it must make as to whether it will remain a kind of geographic signpost, the gateway to the interior or whether it will make a name for itself as a viable and attractive community.
If its particular economic ‘asset’ reposes in its role as the road to the gold-bearing regions of Guyana, in developmental terms the community has less than what it might have been expected to have to show for it. There is no economic sector that defines Bartica itself and the few modest business enterprises that are located there mostly provide services to the mining sector. Bartica, some of its residents boast, has 20 hotels and guest houses. That says much for its role as a transit point for miners trekking in and out of the interior and as a ‘getaway’ from the monotony of a capital that offers no options beyond the routine.
A decade or more of good gold prices has served some members of the Bartica community well.
