Director General, Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon on Thursday commissioned a $38M Immigration Office at Independence Avenue, MacKenzie, Linden.
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency reported Harmon as saying “We have committed ourselves to making life easier for citizens. We have committed ourselves to ensuring that Government services are taken to the people and ensuring that people don’t have to go looking and searching for Government services. We recognised very early that there are certain things which affect the lives of every Guyanese and there had to be a decentralisation in governance and public services. We have sought to decentralise services so that they are available where the people are. This passport office here is just one element in the decentralisation process. We have decentralised the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and the Guyana Revenue Authority”.
He added “This country is being developed in an equal and equitable manner and no community is being left behind. There are no `red’ or `green’ communities with respect to development. It is spread all across this country. Our first priority is to satisfy the requirements of our people”.
Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, in his remarks, said the need was identified for a Passport Office in Region Ten and in August 2016, the Government after discussions with the National Insurance Scheme, established a temporary office at the Scheme’s office to provide services three days per week.
While this was occurring, he noted that the Department began to look for suitable land in the area and once it was identified and permission received, the contract was awarded in December 2017 for construction of the office.
“On July 30, 2019, this building was put into service to test the equipment and the efficiency of the staff. They responded admirably to the task and have since accepted and processed 2,623 applications for passports. Citizens are assured that their applications will be processed within eight days of the submission of their applications. In circumstances where the applications were made in Georgetown, the applicants are able to receive their passports in Linden within the same period,” he said.
Felix added that a similar office is currently under construction in Lethem, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo (Region Nine) while others are planned for Maba-ruma, Barima-Waini (Region One), Anna Regina, Pomeroon-Supenaam (Region Two), Bartica, Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region Seven) and Mahdia, Potaro- Siparuni (Region Eight).
