GEORGETOWN, GUYANA, (DPI) – President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali announced development plans within the housing sector that is already in the pipeline, addressed a large gathering of Lindeners during an impromptu meeting in Victory Valley on Sunday.
“We are going to work on regularising and giving another 1,000 titles to persons living here. And we are going to work to find the land so we can meet the demand,” he said.
Having already invested billions of dollars to integrate Region Ten into Guyana’s path to prosperity, the PPP/C government is reaffirming its commitment to continue investing substantially in the region.
Eleven priority areas which include Ituni and Amelia’s Ward, some 800 lots will be regularised in the first half of 2025. The president also provided other key statistics that reflect the massive investments being made in the region, particularly within the housing and public works sectors.
“From 2020 to now, in order to give and deliver to you housing and house lots, we invested more than $5.8 billion here in Linden, more than 600 percent than the last government invested in all of their five years in office,” he highlighted.
In 2024, under the miscellaneous roads programme, $7.6 billion was invested in Region Ten, resulting in the construction of 535 roads.
“Almost all of these roads went to local contractors and local people. This is a demonstration of love,” the president said.
Since 2020, a whopping $96 billion was expended to enhance the region’s infrastructure, which include the Linden to Mabura Road network and the Soesdyke to Linden highway.
President Ali said this amount far exceeds the investments made by the previous administration and is reflective of his government’s commitment to enhancing the livelihoods of residents across Region 10.
“In the whole five years of the APNU+AFC, they spent less than 0.3 percent of what we are spending in public works for your development,” he said.
The government plans to conduct a reassessment of the Victory Valley community to examine which areas are not susceptible to flooding in order to regularise and grant ownership of land. Plans are underway to build a boxing gym, a community centre, and a basketball court, facilities that will foster stronger community ties and create job opportunities for local residents.
According to the president, these investments aim to stimulate sustainable development in the region, while building a foundation of trust with the people.
President Ali also emphasised his government’s unified and inclusive approach to leadership and he appealed to Lindeners for their continued support.
“You have never given us the political responsibility here in Linden and Region Ten. All we seek is not power. We seek your support so that we can win here and get the political responsibility to show you what good, committed, selfless leadership can bring to your region. I am asking for political responsibility by your support, not political power,” the president said.
Bauxite
In a detailed presentation during a live broadcast on Sunday afternoon, the head of state explained that it is crucial to contextualise the sectors’ development, taking into consideration the grave state of affairs that occurred between 2015 and 2020.
“It is important because this year we’ll be making decisions that compare leadership policy programmes between two governments: the government that destroyed the sector between 2015 and 2020, and that’s the APNU-AFC government, and what we did,” he said.
President Ali reminded listeners that the sectors support more than 30,000 families countrywide. He emphasised that the PPP/C has been consistently accountable during the period that it has been in government, and continues to own its track record of advocating for sustainable development. However, he pointed out that the same cannot be said for the APNU+AFC.
“I heard one of the leaders of the APNU+AFC saying they’re not concerned about four years ago, or they don’t have to answer for that period. But you have to be accountable for the period you were in government,” he stated.
President Ali said it comes as no surprise that the opposition is unhappy with its dismal track record while in office because it reveals a lack of polices and creative ideas which led to a complete destruction of Guyana’s economy.
Forestry
In the forestry sector, the head of state said that two of the sector’s largest investors, Baishalin International Forest Development Inc. and Barama Company Limited were forced to seize operations.
“This was as a result of direct policy intervention that shut these large investors down, affecting thousands of jobs,” the president asserted.
This loss had a debilitating ripple effect, since the companies supported key infrastructure that empowered small miners with access to a wider market. With their departure, the cost of production increased dramatically and the market dwindled.
“All the incentives were removed. There was no support in terms of infrastructure to support the small miners. The export of the total production, which had reached a peak of 500,000 cubic metre annually in 2015, fell to 400,000 cubic metres by 2020. Exports of the forestry sector declined by 35 percent,” President Ali explained. This resulted in a loss of foreign currency and led to a plummeting of employment rates; from 22,000 in 2015 to less than 14,000 by 2020.
Moreover, severe fees were imposed on small and medium-sized loggers, increasing from $450 million in 2014 to $910 million by 2019. This represents a 118 percent increase in fees.
“They want to run from this record, their 2015-2020 record, when they imposed a 118 per cent increase in fees for small and medium sized loggers. What resulted? When we left office, the Guyana Forestry Commission had a surplus of $211 million. By the time we got to 2020, that surplus was completely eroded. Due to the dwindling cash flow, the commission was unable to pay staff,” the president further contended, “And worse than that, the bonus that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government gave the forestry workers was removed. That was the state of affairs of the forestry sector when we came back into government.”
President Ali added that the bauxite sector faced similar hardships, with 50 percent of its workforce being put on the breadline between 2015 and 2020.
“During the APNU+AFC government’s tenure, there was no investment in Guyana. There was absolutely no investment in the hinterland roads, in the mining roads and in the infrastructure to support bauxite mining and forestry.
When we came back in government, we had to reinvest in those infrastructures and expand those infrastructures. That is the difference between the APNU+AFC government that killed everything, killed the productivity of this country, and the PPP/Civic that has built back and is taking our country forward on an upward trajectory,” the head of state asserted.
