Millions of dollars being invested in roads, education, agriculture this year in Region Nine – President Ali

Residents of Karaudarnau and surrounding areas in Region Nine will benefit from several developmental projects being carried out in the areas of road infrastructure, healthcare services, educational infrastructure, agriculture, and other services, this year.

This was underscored by President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali when several pronouncements were made at a meeting in Karaudarnau, on Friday.

This year, $200 million will be expended on roads alone in the Deep South.

Meanwhile, in the education sector, President Ali said, “On schools in the Deep South, we will be spending more than $250 million. In the next two years, every community will have access to nursery, primary and secondary education.”

But more importantly, in the next 12 months, President Ali continued by saying, “We are going to expand the internet facility that produces 5 megabytes to over 140 so that your children can study under the GOAL scholarship programme from right here…These are things that matter.”

Very soon, for the first time, surgeries will be done at Aishalton due to the investments in equipment, facility and infrastructure.

In line with Guyana’s agenda for communities to become self-sufficient in food production, the head of state emphasised, “This year alone, we will spend a further $50 plus million in the Deep South to support your shade house programme, to support your black giant [chicken] programme and to expand food production in the communities for you to become more sustainable.”

Within the last three years, 3,768 residents, 1,789 households, from Karaudarnau, Shea, Maruranau, Awarewaunau, Aishalton, Achiwib, Parabara and Baishaza benefitted from billions of dollars in investments.

These include almost $300 million spent on health, $700 million on education, $230 million on renewable energy, close to $30 million on information and communication technology (ICT) services, close to $10 million on tourism, about $80 million in agriculture, almost $260 million in Amerindian affairs, over $35 million in presidential grants, $3 billion supplementary budget was passed for Amerindian communities, over $70 million in economic investment fund, and $133 million in low carbon development strategy (LCDS) funds.

And now, the government is working on an expanded programme to increase the delivery of potable water access there.

In 2023, 1,366 solar home systems were distributed there.

President Ali noted, “If you look at every single village, you will see a series of projects that are leading to the improvement of life. There is not a single village in Region Nine that can say they were not included in the development over the last three years.”

President Ali further outlined the investments from the various sectors the region received.

These include an investment of over $1.9 billion from the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, almost $20 million in 2023 in public assistance, almost $1.6 billion from the Ministry of Natural Resources, almost $70 million from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, about $600 million from the Ministry of Health, $4.9 billion from the Ministry of Education,

He highlighted, “These are things that change the prospects in the communities…Those are the investments we made on behalf of you. The Amerindians of this country are equally entitled to every cent of revenue that this country gets.”

Last week, the regional officials informed the president that the weather had significantly affected the production of cassava crops.

As a result, the government provided 500,000 pounds of cassava worth $20 million to support the communities, a few days ago.

As a commitment to the region, the head of state said “We are going to continue to buy excess production from the coast and send it to your villages…So that you could enjoy the things that make life easy even under the most difficult circumstances.”

He underlined that to provide a higher caliber of service in the communities, investments are being made in healthcare staff and services.

Today, hundreds of young Amerindians are training to become nurses, doctors, nursing assistants, dental technicians and other medical practitioners.

The president reminded, “We are working on a plan to ensure that every Guyanese and every community become prosperous under the umbrella of the One Guyana concept.”

The president was joined by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, Regional Chairman, Bryan Allicock and other officials.