Minister Ramson commits to developing Eccles New Scheme ground
– Eccles/Ramsburg NDC, Tiger Tanks Guyana to invest in project
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Hon. Charles Ramson Jr. has committed to advancing the development of the Eccles New Scheme Ground, in keeping with the community’s plans.
The Minister made this statement on Sunday, during an outreach to the area. He said the Ministry would employ a phased approach to realising this project.
“You are far ahead than most other communities and so we’re going to work towards making this being realised. I now have to make some decisions about how I allocate resources and it will be based on your plan which we’re going to work on in a phased way,” he said.
Minister Ramson suggested that the initiative could start off with the installation of solar and other lights, followed by the establishment of a running track.
To this end, Tiger Tanks Guyana would invest in community ground’s development in every way possible. The Minister said this collaboration is essential to the country’s development.
“We are only going to be able to achieve the full potential of our country by working in a unified and collaborative way in this framework of partnership so do not allow seeds of discord,” he said.
Minister Ramson urged residents and business owners to support this goal. Following his appeal, the Eccles/Ramsburg Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) committed to donating two truckload of sand and the use of its Bobcat machine and trailer to cover the ground.
Concerning the inaccurate fencing of community ground by the then Coalition Government, Minister Ramson said this matter would be addressed, even as he encouraged stakeholders to make the ground more accessible and usable.
Chairman of the Eccles Policing Group, Mr. Robert Alladi told DPI that the community had been frustrated with the pace of works planned for the ground by the previous Administration.
“Works for the grounds has been ongoing for some time and what we found is that when it starts, it would stop at a level and then it was neglected for some time,” he said. However, he said, this has changed under the PPP/C Government.
“What I have seen with the [President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan] Ali Government is that they have kept their promises to push the ground development and mandate in terms of having inclusiveness with the citizens to know development does not happen alone but collaboratively,” he said.
This community ground will feature a playground, basketball court, track and other amenities to benefit all the people. Moving forward, changes may be made to the plans, depending on residents’ input.