Dear Editor,
It is time we responded to all those negative writers, especially the letter in Kaieteur News dated September 22, 2010 written by Aubrey Retemyer, which stated that the administration had reduced Linden to shambles. I will also address all the negative views of Lincoln Lewis, Norman Browne and the other PNC activists or supporters who had previously written against the PPP/C administration as it related to Linden.
It does not seem to me that these writers ever resided in Linden or lived there during the rule of the PNC, because if they had, they are either being conveniently blind or just being negative towards the PPP/C. Anyone who lived in Linden before the PPP/C came to office in October 1992 would know that at that time almost all the roads were in a deplorable condition with many potholes. Much of the infrastructure was in a state of disrepair. Our homes were covered with red dust from the roads; we were living in prisons, since all the windows and doors were closed.
The bauxite company was in a rundown state, a lot of production equipment was down and the workforce moved from over 5,000 workers in 1980 to about 2,000 workers prior to 1992. Under the PNC, we saw the closing of the alumina plant and the retrenchment of over 1,000 workers without receiving any real benefits; the records are there to show this. During those times there was hardship for thousands of people living in Linden, even though the bauxite company recorded high sales in the late ’70s. There were times when many of us had to join lines to get basic food items, such as cooking oil and soap; only the privileged few received certain basic food items.
Over the past 18 years the PPP/C administration has spent billions of dollars in Linden and Region # 10 as a whole. Millions of dollars have been spent in rehabilitating roads in Linden; Burnham Drive was resurfaced and extended to Christianburg burial ground as an all-weather road. No more red dust in our kitchen and bedrooms. The Winifred Gaskin Highway was rebuilt with a perfect bituminous surface, while over $150M was spent on the West Watooka farm to market roads. A multi-million dollar road network was being done in the Amelia’s Ward housing area, and this year about $300M is being spent on many roads in Linden.
GWI has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the water sector in Linden and at Amelia’s Ward another new well has been installed. At present the pipelines are being removed and replaced with new ones.
A new state-of-the-art hospital has been built to the cost of $1.8 billion ,and a new health clinic was built at One Mile. There are health out posts at Wisroc, West Watooka. Amelia’s Ward, Siberia/Old England, Coo-macka and Three Friends. None of health outposts were there under the PNC administration. A new ambulance was provided for the hospital. Also the Charles Rosa School has been rehabilitated and extended. The Wismar hospital was rehabilitated. Only a few days ago Prime Minister Samuel Hinds presented an ambulance to the Kwakwani Hospital.
All the schools in Linden have been rehabilitated, and new schools were built such as the Linden Foundation Secondary School at a cost of over $250M, the new Wisburg Secondary School at a cost of over $350M and the Watooka Day Primary which was built at a cost of over $120M. Kindergartens were built at Retrieve, Industrial Area, South Amelia’s Ward, Riverside Drive Watooka, West Watooka, Christianburg, Blueberry Hill, and Coomacka Mines. The Linden Technical Institute has been expanded to twice its size under this administration.
Community centres have been built at Wisroc Basin, Christianburg, Silvertown, Coomacka Mines and Maria Elizabeth Mines; none of those were in place under the PNC.
In the early ’90s President Jagdeo , then junior Finance Minister brought a team to Linden to explore ways of creating jobs. At the completion of his study the Government of Guyana was able to forge a partnership with the European Union to fund a project which was called the Linden Econo-mic Advancement Project (LEAP). This project was funded to the tune of €12.5M. During the 7 year period of LEAP from 2004 to 2009 a total of 1,694 applications were made to the tune of $2.1 billion, and 701 loans were approved and disbursed to the tune of $752M. LEAP also spent millions of dollars on infrastructure projects in Linden and other parts of Region #10. Also the government has given special incentives to Linden, to encourage the private sector to invest there. Mr Retemyer should state clearly who was turned down to do business in Linden, because we are working day in day out to encourage business there, and the Prime Minister should be complimented for this, because he always encourages the private sector to invest in Linden. Government spent millions on a building at Kara Kara where a call centre was established and employed over 120 young people. This excellent call centre is a manifestation of the PPP/C’s confidence in our young people.
The PPP/C’s administration has been paying over $2B for electricity in Linden per year, and Linden is the only town which receives electricity almost free. In other areas of Guyana persons have to pay over $50/KW for electricity. Linden enjoys 99% electricity, which could be termed the best in the country.
Linden pre-1992 had only two hire cars. They traversed from Linden to Auto Supply. Mr Hinds who was a senior manager at the company did not own a good car. Today, there are more than one hundred cars in Linden. People are more mobile.
This government has been paying over 400 workers in Linden to keep their clogged drains and parapets clean and this project is not only done in Linden.
When President Hoyte came to Linden around 1990 he mentioned that the bauxite industry was not making a profit; with a last effort he brought in Minproc, which in 1994 declared that they saw no way to make Linmine profitable, but the PPP/C government did not close it down. The government continued to subsidise it to the tune of approximately over US$5M until it was privatized in 2004. Today I am proud to say that the bauxite company is alive and with the new joint venture of Bosai and the government Linmine had been making a profit.
The capital budgetary allocations to Region 10 since are 1992 – $12.M; 1993 – $6.3M; 1994 – $30M; 1995 – $65M; 1996 – $111M; 1997 – $158M; 1998 – 138M; 1999 – $98M; 2000 – $115M; 2001 – $115.8M; 2002 – $97.2M; $2003 – $100.7M; 2004 -103M; 2005 – $116M; 2006 – $128M; 2007-139M; 2008 -140.5M.
I want to let those negative oppositions know that they cannot fool the people of Linden any more because they are working together with the government for the development of their town. The government under the great leadership of President Jagdeo should have high praise for bringing Guyana from what it was in 1992 to the present. President Jagdeo’s leadership has been so outstanding that even though he said he is not interested in a third term what he is doing for Guyana deserved another term, for there is no doubt that the PPP/C would win the 2011 elections.
Yours faithfully,
A Forsythe
Regional Councillor
Region 10