Govt consulting with Region Ten officials on projects
– Claims of no dialogue ‘outrageous’ – Min. Dharamlall
Government says it is actively consulting with officials in Region 10 as it rolls-out specific programmes aimed at ensuring development directly reaches the residents there.
This was the position of Local Government and Regional Development Minister, Nigel Dharamlall who spoke the Department of Information (DPI) on Monday as part of an interview.
Minister Dharamlall labelled assertions by officials in region 10 that they are not consulted on development projects as ‘outrageous.’
The minister refuted the misleading claims, noting that the PPP/C Administration has invited regional officials to meetings on multiple occasions.
“I personally spoke to the regional chair as well as the mayoress to come to the meetings. The regional chair came once, the mayoress never came to any of our meetings hosted by the President and the Vice President, so for them to claim that they are not being consulted I think is utterly outrageous.”
He said government has always consulted with all municipalities as well as Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC).
Each year, municipalities are expected to submit their work programme to central government.
To this end, the minister said he met with the members of the Linden municipality three times since becoming minister, to address the “most mundane things they have been requesting as part of their development for example buying a mini-bus to transport security”.
He said resources should be used to rollout development work within the township to foster economic growth.
Meanwhile, the minister cautioned the town council for its failure to collect rates and taxes.
“They collected less than 50 percent and so a lot of the resources that they have as well go towards paying staff and they are not able to do the heavy lifting.”
The minister recommitted to ensuring all Guyanese benefit from Guyana’s resources despite their colour, creed or political affiliation.
He said government will do the ‘heavy lifting’ to champion this cause leading Guyana once again into a prosperous future.