─ 96% of Bartica using LED street lights

─ beautification initiative continues

─ youths receive scholarships from administration and private sector

Entrusted with the mission to lead Guyana’s Green Agenda, Mayor of Bartica, His Worship Gifford Marshall said efforts to achieve this goal have progressed quite significantly, over the years.

“The green programme is all about having a different mindset and approach towards our environment… there is still more needed to be done in terms of capacity building for the councillors and sensitisation of the community. Being considered as the gateway to the interior, where most of our residents rely heavily on the gold industry, posed a serious challenge for us in terms of balancing going green and mining, but we were able to do so,” he told the Department of Public Information (DPI).

According to the mayor, the Bartica administration renewed its efforts in the region’s Light Emitted Diode (LED) street lighting programme. “Approximately 96% of the township of Bartica is covered under the street lights programme while another 4% will need to be covered,” he explained.

Marshall said solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels have been installed in a majority of the municipality buildings except for the abattoir. The ongoing beautification works continue to improve the township’s image and ties in with the administration’s solid waste management efforts, he noted.

“Solid waste management was a very tall order for us to get the town clean and while we [regional administration] are satisfied with where we are, there are some concerns regarding certain areas where more needs to be done… the town is much cleaner now than what it was a few years ago but we still have a long way to go.”

He also spotlighted the West Indian Housing Green Park and the Water Front project, as two model projects undertaken to boost the region’s tourism potential. Forming part of the waterfront project is the Golden Beach Boulevard that was commissioned in 2018. This project comprises a beautiful walkway, mini-marts and lights powered by PV panel.

Turning his attention to youth development within the township, Marshall said that the administration recently embarked on the provision of scholarships to the young people, with the support of the private sector.

“We are helping the young people understand the importance of education, making themselves marketable and most importantly ensuring they achieve this… we believe once we do that we will have a population of young people who would be able to meaningfully contribute to the development to Bartica and the country, as a whole,” he noted.

Over the last four years, the Coalition government has invested over $1.6B more in the town. The money financed the building and upgrades of several roads, a health centre, school, a $90M powerplant, waterfront and a radio station. Also, a solar farm is to be constructed as part of various sustainable initiatives to be implemented as Bartica works to become the country’s first green town.

Source: DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, July 31, 2019