Preparation for Mahdia Township moving apace

DPI, GUYANA, Tuesday, July 4, 2017

The Region Eight, Chairman’s Office is currently working on the establishment of the Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC) for the community of Mahdia.

The creation of the NDC are among several systems which are expected to be put in place in the coming months, as preparations for Mahdia Township draws closer. The Region Eight community is expected to be gazetted as a township before the end of the year.

Regional Executive Officer (REO), Gavin Gounga, told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan is expected to visit the community shortly to install an Interim Management Community (IMC). The IMC will manage the NDC, until the Local Government Elections are held in 2018, following which the council, will be run by the duly elected local representatives, elected by the residents of Mahdia.

Gounga explained that a list of names, comprising the persons that could be selected to form the membership of the IMC has already been submitted to the Minister.

Additionally, Gounga said that during his visit, Minister Bulkan will commission a tractor which will be used to deliver

solid waste services to the residents of Mahdia.

In 2016 the government created four new towns; Mabaruma in Region One, Bartica in Region Seven and Lethem in Region Nine. Mahdia was expected to attain township status, that year as well but the process was delayed due to several challenges including the lack or the non-existence of the NDC and the demarcation of the constituency boundaries.

In May, Minister Bulkan had told DPI that the challenges with the realisation of Mahdia Township are being addressed through a work programme and that the work programme projects will address these challenges. The mining community is set to be gazetted as a town in the third quarter of 2017.

The creation of the new towns is a part of this administration’s policy and vision of fostering national development via regional and local empowerment.

The new towns for instance, are expected to be the administrative centres of their respective regions, providing key governmental services. They would work in tandem with the duly elected councillors, which the administration continues to support with capacity building training towards better service delivery in their role of providing the services to the residents. In their communities

Mahdia is a small community in Region Eight. Commerce is centred on the area’s gold and diamond mining operations. The population of just over 40 is , primarily of Indigenous people and coast landers who migrated to the hinterland to work in the gold and diamond fields.

Recently, President David Granger noted that the towns will trigger economic activity towards the development of a single economy

The President cited the need for Guyana to build an entrepreneurial class, access cheap energy, bridge the Essequibo River and diversify the national economy to reduce its dependence on the primary products; of rice, sugar, bauxite, gold, timber, and fish –  what he refers to the ‘six sisters’.

 

By: Gabreila Patram