Ministers host consultations in Mashabo, Lake Capoey
Several Ministers of Government, on Tuesday, met with residents of Mashabo and Lake Capoey, Pomeroon-Supenaam, (Region Two), to discuss developmental issues.
The delegation included Amerindian Affairs Minister, Pauline Sukhai; Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha; Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall, and Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat.
Among issues addressed were concerns relating to Amerindian Land Titling and Agriculture.
Minister Mustapha said the PPP/C Government will continue to live up to its philosophy of meeting the citizens at the grass root level.
“Our government doesn’t believe that we must build the economy under one sector alone, we must have an economy that can withstand shocks and that is why as a government, we are putting energies and investment in all the sectors…. We are doing that to ensure that our economy is strong.”
Minister Mustapha said there are a lot of opportunities available in the agriculture sector now, as government moves to make the food sector a value-added one.
“We will have a lot of opportunities to export our crops to the Caribbean. Only last week I had a meeting with Barbados’ Agriculture Minister and a number of produces that were stopped when APNU+AFC was in government, we have restarted that programme.
Things like pineapples, pears, bananas, all these things were once being exported to Barbados. And what we are doing too, we will build a warehouse in Barbados that will be used as a transshipment point to export our produce to parts of the world,” the agriculture minister added.
Minister Dharamlall said several projects are earmarked for next year, which will bring major developments to Mashabo.
Among them, are plans to enhance information technology in the community, with the procurement of laptop computers and digital tablets for teachers and students.
“Because one of your big issues is electricity, we have to look at some television systems for some additional households, rehabilitation of the teachers’ quarters, we have to train more teachers from the community, we have to do some work on the primary school, as well as the health post and at the landing,” the minister pointed out.
During her remarks, Minister Sukhai reminded that land titling is one of the commitments of the government.
“We have in the past, in our previous tenure in office, significantly move forward in the titling of lands for Amerindians, and in this period, in our first term, we intend to address land tilting again,” she said.
She pointed out too, thatthe village’s presidential grant was increased and urged residents to ensure that a facility be constructed to facilitate the ICT Hub-a project spearheaded by the Prime Minister’s office.
Minister Sukhai also handed over a 40 horse power boat engine to Mashabo and Lake Capoey respectively, to assist with transporting students to school.