St Ignatius experiencing massive development as over $20M in projects commissioned

St Ignatius village in Region Nine is currently experiencing significant development, as over $20 million in projects were last Monday commissioned by Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai.

The projects were funded by the Carbon Credit and Presidential Grant (PG) programmes which are all being distributed by the government.

These programmes are to help the hinterland communities to positively transform their environment and livelihoods.

“The village will now have a Farine Processing Unit which was built at a coast of $14 million. This will support the processing of cassava which is a vital ingredient for many indigenous dishes,” Minister Sukhai said as she commissioned the project.

This, she noted, will bring great ease to the women who oftentimes have to manually grate the cassava.

The minister further noted, “$5 million dollars was also injected towards the extension of St Ignatius primary hot meal building. This building has since been equipped it with a freezer, a fridge, a kitchen cupboard, and a microwave among other appliances.”

Additionally, a $1.8 million dollar kitchen for women in the village was also commissioned, while another $1.8 million dollar went towards fencing the village office.

The establishment of these projects goes far beyond community development but rather, it now strengthens and forms part of tourism facilities.

As such, from these projects, the villagers can create a hospitable environment for tourists by providing them with the necessary meals and accommodations while at the same time articulating tourism-based activities and learning experiences for them.

Also enlightening the residents about budget 2024, Minister Sukhai said that this year’s financial scheme has a lot in store for the continued development of Amerindians and their villages.

“In this year’s budget, $2.7 billion will be disbursed to Amerindian villages from the Carbon Credit Funds. And I want to say that the Carbon Credit Funds has become very useful not only to the villages but to the entire country,” the Amerindian Affairs Minister posited.

As a result, she encouraged the village leaders to use the money wisely to develop more sustainable projects that will overall bring in added revenue for their village.