Mabaruma’s Town Council welcomes developmental investments

DPI, Guyana, Monday, October 9, 2017

The Town Council of Mabaruma is just about one year old but the vision for the town’s continued development would most likely attract potential investors. Town Clerk Barrington Ward shared with the Department of Public Information (DPI) some projects that the council wishes to have realised in 2018 and onwards.

Barrington Ward, Town Clerk, Mabaruma.

Ward explained that the town’s mayor and councillors are currently engaging a Trinidadian group who is seeking to invest in the town’s agriculture development. One specific area of focus is cold storage facilities to preserve natural commodities for export, whether around the Region One area itself, throughout the country and by extension Caribbean countries.

“Some of the produce we have here like avocado, oranges, grapefruit; cannot get to the buyers quickly so, therefore, there is large number of spoilage. We are discussing with that group (Trinidadian investors) bringing in the necessary facilities here and they would do the processing of the peanuts and the turmeric. We also discussed what can be processed here and what can be in cold storage by weekend and still be marketed,” Ward explained

The economic activity in the region had seemingly undergone a decline, according to Ward, therefore the financial base of the new town needs to be restored. Two of the areas affected are trade and the upgrade of services throughout the region.

Citing an example, he said, “One of the things that bothers me is that we have to bring all the water from Georgetown and we have all the water here so we’re are encouraging investors to come and set up filtering stations so, therefore, we can produce and filter our own water here and we reduce the transportation and cost.”

The Town Clerk also observed that the Mabaruma Multi-complex Marketing Centre scheduled to be commissioned in January 2018, would be the ideal base for service providers. This would aid the town council to garner funds to further township developments.

“If we want spare parts, everyone has to go to Georgetown. And in terms of hardware and those stuff we got to go to Georgetown, but if we got investors, investing on the tarmac we can bring in all the economic activities and hence bring some money into the council,” he explained.

Ward said one of the ways the council plans to garner funds is “to ensure we lay an economic foundation but not press the people to pay taxes, in other words, we are going to get taxes and revenue from our stalls and these (other) activities.”

Despite the deferred development of the town, Ward believes that with the right investment, Mabaruma can become a capital town.

 

By: Delicia Haynes 

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