Bartica Mayor to empower residents through capacity building programmes

DPI, GUYANA, Monday, April 2, 2018

Mayor of Bartica, Gifford Marshall said more emphasis will be placed on building the capacity of Barticans.

Marshall told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the capacity building is aimed at empowering the residents of Bartica even as the Town Council presses ahead with its infrastructural developments.

“We want to focus on programmes and activities that will impact people directly,” Marshall told DPI on Sunday. The mayor said the Town Council is examining the establishment of a centre for persons with disabilities in Bartica.

Marshall added that small businesses will also be targeted. Programmes and activities aimed at empowering small businesses and improve the economic climate in the town will be rolled out within the coming months, he said.

“Also, we want to work with our young people where business is concerned. So, we’re going to spend a lot of time over the next couple of months empowering our people,” Marshall said.

The mayor and his Deputy, Nageswari Kamal Lochandprashad, were recently re-elected by the Town Council during its internal elections.

With six months remaining before Local Government Elections, Marshall noted that the Council was “able to achieve most of our infrastructural work that we set out to do for the three-year period”.

Marshall said in the coming months, the council will focus on the installation of street lights and the rehabilitation of roads. The Bartica Town Council is working to develop a long-term plan for community development in line with being a green town he explained.

“We need to ensure that residents understand that whatever they do today will impact 10, 15, 100 years from now and we need to preserve this environment … for future generations,” Marshall said.

President David Granger, at the opening of the Power Boat Regatta on Sunday, commended the Town Council for the changes it has achieved in “the two brief years”.

“Mayor Marshall and his Deputy, Kamal, set out to make Bartica a clean, green and safe town and they are well on the way to achieving that objective. This is a model and I wish that every other town … should emulate this example,” President David Granger said.

 

By: Tiffny Rhodius