President Bharrat Jagdeo said a management committee will be set up in order to manage development at Lethem even as he acknowledged the transformation the community has undergone, in his address to businessmen over the Easter weekend.

“We want Lethem to grow in a fashion that will be orderly so the government will be working with the business community to ensure that happens,” Jagdeo told the meeting. According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release the President said an agreement had been made some months ago for planned development in the Lethem area. He noted too that the opening of the Takutu River bridge strengthened the cross-border trade between Guyana and Brazil and as such it must be done in keeping with the laws of both countries.

“We see development here as a very integrated one with Brazil and so I have no doubt that development here in Lethem will be supportive of those linkages and that this place will have a tremendous dynamism and in years to come will be transformed into a vibrant town in Guyana,” Jagdeo said. In keeping with this, he met Chairman of the Lethem Chamber of Commerce and Industry John Macedo; Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad and Go-Invest CEO Geoff Da Silva on Wednesday at State House where they agreed to form a management committee to monitor business proposals.

GINA said the committee is expected to ensure that businesspersons stick to requests made in the proposals. Macedo told GINA that the committee will ensure that corrective measures are put in place regarding a recently established retail store since its proprietors had initially submitted a proposal for a restaurant and supermarket. “They have to adjust according to the proposal,” he said.