More infrastructural upgrades slated for Low Wood

The village of Low Wood in Region Ten will continue to feel the government’s presence, as a slew of infrastructural interventions are in the pipeline to improve the lives of its residents.

President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali announced these measures during a meeting with the residents on Saturday.

He said that within the next two weeks, a team will be deployed to the community to evaluate the condition of the school, and facilitate much-needed upgrades. This includes the fortification of the roof, and painting.

He added that through the Men on Mission (MOM), the school compound will also be fenced to ensure that the teachers and students feel more secure.

“We’re going to look at the stelling to see what works, what works are needed at the stelling, to have it upgraded, and to see whether there is any safety issue that we must address. So those are things we’ll do in the next two weeks. We’re [also] going to complete the furnishing of the school to the teacher’s quarters within the next week,” President Ali informed.

The president told residents that in the 2025 budget, allocations will be directed to procuring a boat and engine for the village. This intervention is expected to benefit the 20 children who have challenges getting to and from school.

“We’re going to look at a sanitary block in a new budget. The other things that we’re going to ensure that you get to support your school kitchen are the two water dispensers, the fans, the projector, and the public address system,” the head of state listed.

He further noted, “We have to get, we’ll ensure that you get one laptop computer, the flash drives, the filing cabinet, the cupboard, and the tabletop dispenser. Those are things that we’ll work on to ensure that within the next two weeks we can deliver those things to make your life easier.”

A team from the Ministry of Health will also visit the village in the new week to see what is needed to improve the health posts in terms of staffing, medication and equipment.

“We’re going to look at ensuring that you have proper chairs, a fan, and a bed for health examination. So those are additional things that we will be looking at for you in health. The enclosure for a sitting area, we’re going to have that enclosure completed with a shed,” the president stated.

The ministry will also conduct a dental outreach in the village, and provide eye examinations to ascertain which residents can benefit from the spectacles voucher programme.

The president also encouraged the residents to expand their honey production ventures, and touted agritourism as another viable business venture.

Agritourism, which involves displaying farms and other agricultural businesses for tourism appeal, was described as ‘low-hanging fruit’, and the president said it aligns with the national thrust to merge the two sectors to boost their development.  

“This Demerara River has tremendous tourism potential. And we have to activate that potential. But we have to link tourism to something else. And one of the easiest, the lowest-hanging fruit to link tourism to here is eco-agro-based tourism, where persons can come and we can develop maybe 20 acres of orchard and people can come and have fun in the orchard. They can…pick fresh greens and vegetables and pay for the greens and vegetables. This is how you build tourism products,” President Ali explained.