The latest attempts by the administration to upgrade Bartica, Charity, Parika and Supenaam into towns are likely to be delayed by the holding of Local Government Elections, Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall says.
This initiative, which has been in the pipeline for several years, seemed to be coming closer to fruition when the government recently placed advertisements in the local newspapers inviting tenders to provide consultancy services for the revaluing of properties and the strengthening of urban management and administration in these four communities. Funding for these projects was provided by the Caribbean Develop-ment Bank (CDB) through a Technical Assistance Grant to the country, the advertisements said.
However, recently Lall told this newspaper that while the “soft” part of this project – including the training of officials – was currently ongoing, there were significant implications in commissioning new towns before local government elections were held. Since they were fully cognizant of these implications, Lall said that it would perhaps be best for these changes to be made following the local government poll. The Minister was hopeful, however, that the project could be completed before the end of the year, after elections had been held.
On February 8, 2006, the CDB and the Guyana government signed a contract amounting to US$16.1 million to have the four communities of Bartica, Charity, Parika and Supenaam converted to towns as part of the Community Services Enhancement Project (CSEP). At the signing ceremony held at the Le Meridien Pegasus, it was disclosed that the CDB had provided a sum of US$200,000 as a grant for the project, while the balance was in the form of a loan. The timeline given for the completion of this project was 3 years.
The signing of the agreement was intended to allow for the provision of technical assistance for services provided in the targeted communities, particularly the infrastructure and the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs), with the intention that this would lead to their eventual elevation to towns. Since then various projects have been done on developing infrastructure in the regions, including repairing roads in the communities, improving administrative buildings and constructing new markets.
Resources were also allocated for designing programmes to address issues such as solid waste management, community awareness and participation, strengthening urban management and a town transition plan to enhance financial and infrastructural management.
In January 2007, a contract to the tune of $29 million was inked with the Jamaican company Trevor Hamilton Associates for them to engage in work to bring institutional strengthening to the four towns.
The main thrust of the four-month consultancy was to identify and clarify the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders in achieving the shared goal of attaining town status. Additionally, it was intended to provide a comprehensive framework for the transitioning of the four communities and to specify the timing and scheduling of the major activities, including the recruitment and training of staff, system adaptation and installation, communications and education.
Plans to increase the number of Guyanese towns have been on the government’s agenda for a number of years. At present six towns exist in Guyana: Anna Regina, New Amsterdam, Rose Hall, Corriverton, Linden and Georgetown. During the 2003 Budget debate, then Local Government Minister Clinton Collymore had announced that $1 billion of that year’s $72.9 billion budget had been set aside for upgrading Parika, Bartica, Lethem and Rosignol as towns during the course of the year, but these plans never materialized.