A Gov’t of commitment – Min. Croal visits Reg. 1 to address concerns

— more water solutions to be delivered

DPI, Guyana, Sunday, August 16, 2020

Minister of Housing and Water, Hon. Colin Croal, is currently visiting Region One (Barima-Waini), on a two-day outreach, to deal with the water woes of residents in the area.

During an interview on Radio Mabaruma (95.1FM) today, he reminded that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is committed to its manifesto, for providing more housing and water solutions.

Minister of Housing and Water, Hon. Collin Croal during his appearance on Radio Mabaruma (95.1FM)

“I want to assure Mabaruma, your Government is committed – in a short-term to quickly address the issue of water delivery here within the Mabaruma sub-region, and of course, at the same time we will look for long-term measures so that we can have this done at a sustained level.”

Additionally, Minister Croal relayed that the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is expected to play a greater role in the realisation of the Government’s vision for better water services.

“Guyana Water Incorporated will play an important role to ensure that we have safer water delivery, more access to water, and that is something that I intend to emphasise. That is why the engineer, the Hinterland Coordinator for GWI, will be with us on our visits tomorrow, so we can have first-hand discussions with the citizens of the community; to know what is affecting you, and to listen to some of the suggestions on how we can address some of your concerns.”

Minister Croal also highlighted the importance of potable water for sanitisation purposes, and good hand hygiene, as efforts are being made to help flatten the curve of COVID-19.

He revealed that stakeholder meetings with GWI found that maintaining quality service has been an issue throughout the pandemic, as a result of, increased water usage nationwide, over the past six months.

The increase in water usage and the economy not performing well, also caused GWI to have significant shortfalls in revenue collection, which presented some challenges for coming up with a Budget for the fiscal year of 2020.

The Minister assured that all issues will be considered in the new Budget, which is expected to be finalised in the next few weeks.

A plan for metering services, including water relief for pensioners, across Guyana, is also on the table for the Ministry of Housing and Water, as part of the PPP/C Government’s commitment to its manifesto.

However, the country has been without a Budget for the entire year, and this emergency Budget will cater for the main short-term goals for the Housing and Water Sector, until a more extensive budget for the following year.

Minister Croal and his team will be holding a multi-stakeholder meeting at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region One’s boardroom. He will also be visiting several communities such as Mabaruma, White Water and Husururu, among a list of others, to gain a first-hand understanding of issues to better address the concerns.

Residents can take the opportunity to shed light on related issues; however, all COVID-19 measures must be respected during these visits. The two-day visit in Region One starts today and is expected to conclude tomorrow.

Radio Personality Marti De Souza who interview the Husing and water Minister, Hon Colin Croal on Radio Mabaruma (95.1FM)

[from left to right] Radio Personality Marti De Souza; Minister of Housing and Water, Hon. Colin Croal and Regional Chairman, Brentol Ashley

End.