The Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice has completed its Plan of Action for Regional Development (PARD) and discussions are underway to bring it to fruition, a release from the Ministry of Communities said on Friday.
The Ministry said that the PARD is a “major accomplishment for Guyana’s local governance system and democratic process. In fact, it took Guyana 35 years to honour Article 77 of the Constitution, which states: `The development programme of each region shall be integrated into the national development plans, and the government shall allocate funds to each region to enable it to implement its development programme.’”
Speaking at the second Round Table Discussion on PARDs, on Friday at the Herdmanston Lodge, Georgetown, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan noted that President David Granger at the swearing-in ceremony of Regional Chairpersons following the 2015 General and Regional Elections charged them to create PARDs.
Bulkan said that regional officials were also reminded of the President’s charge at the Regional Democratic Council Leadership Forum held in July 2015. Following this, Region 10 was selected to be the pilot Region through a consultative process.
The release said that the lessons learnt whilst creating Region 10’s PARD will be used to the benefit of the other Regions. According to Bulkan, Budget 2016 caters for the completion of PARDs for two additional regions. He said that the ministry is committed to ensuring that this is achieved and wants to begin putting together PARDs for two more regions.
For the benefit of the other regions, the release said that Region Ten Chairman Renis Morian made a presentation on the region’s PARD. Those in attendance included Minister within the Ministry of Communities Dawn Hastings-Williams, regional chairpersons, regional executive officers, Permanent Secretary Emil Mc Garrell, Deputy Permanent Secretary Abena Moore and Director of Budget of the Ministry of Finance Sonya Roopnauth.
Morian is confident that the successful implementation of PARD will locate Region 10 as the new frontier of development. He noted that financing of PARD depends on the Region, Central Government and the private sector.
Its estimated cost of implementation is $22.62 billion and would require additional skilled staff, institutional strengthening, and a lot of hard work, he said.
