Regional chairman of Region Five Bindrabhan Bisnauth has said that one of the main focus for next year is to ensure that the Mahaicony Technical & Vocational Centre (MTVC) is up and running to its full capacity.
Bisnauth was responding to a question at a press conference held yesterday at the regional boardroom at Fort Wellington about a drop in the MTVC’s attendance level. He said that at the moment, the “student population is not what was expected” and that “there is a massive drive to have students enrolled and hopefully there would be a full capacity in 2013.”
Asked about the reason for the less than expected number of enrolments, the chairman suggested that it could be “because students from the remote areas are not yet au fait with the teachings there.”
He emphasised that they were still spreading the word around to arouse the interest of the parents, who have to encourage their children to enrol.
He said too that the MTVC includes all of the courses offered at the technical institutes at New Amsterdam and in Georgetown.
Regional Education Officer, Owen Pollard informed the media that the project has not yet been “handed over to the region and is still being managed by central ministry.”
Bisnauth also identified the shelter at Onverwagt and repair of the Burma Branch road that has been “a major bug bear” as two other projects that the region would be ensuring are up and running next year.
99% complete
Meanwhile, regarding the capital and current works, Bisnauth said he was happy to announce that they were 99% completed with its $1.6B budgetary allocation.
The chairman said that for the capital programme, the emphasis was on education and health. A number of schools, including the Rosignol, Bygeval and Mahaicony secondaries and Bath, Blairmont, Ithaca, Lachmansingh, Calcutta and Novar primary schools, have been repaired.
Renovations have also been done at the Mahaicony Medical Complex and Fort Wellington Hospital, a number of health centres as well as the living quarters at Mahaicony, Baiboo and the nurses’ hostel at Fort Wellington.
Repairs, maintenance and construction works were done to roads, bridges and drainage and irrigation structures in the Mahaicony in various areas in the Mahaicony and West Berbice areas.
In the case of agriculture, projects are being done in collaboration with the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary/ Agricultural-Development-Committee (MMA/ADA).
With the construction of a two-mile stretch of road from upper to lower Moraikabai, students who were “suffering immensely” now have easy access to the school. Bisnauth said residents from the Amerindian village assisted with the project through self-help work.
Apart from the budgetary allocation, the region was grateful for funding it received from various ministries. The chairman said that the Ministry of Education has provided $37.3 M for the establishment of three Information Technology labs at the No 8 Secondary School which has already been equipped with computers, and the Bath and Cotton Tree primary.
Asked about the region’s satisfaction with road projects, the chairman said they have “embarked on a position to construct barriers” so as to prevent heavy-duty vehicles from traversing the residential streets.
He said that apart from some “hiccups and complaints, the region is satisfied with the performance of the contractors.”
Regional Executive Officer, Ashford Ambedkar pointed out that there have also been two instances where they have had to make reports “to the police about misuse of the road where heavy trucks were using the roads and causing damages.” He said they were taking steps to “remedy the damages” and have erected speed bumps.
Flooding
Asked whether the Cotton Tree farmers who suffered losses to their cash crops during recent flooding would be compensated, the chairman did not give a positive answer.
The flooding was caused by heavy rainfall, coupled with blocking of the three-door koker at D’ Edward Village for the effecting of repairs by the MMA/ADA. The repairs were still in progress when the rainy weather commenced.
The chairman said that while the flooding was unfortunate, remedial works were critical and had to be done if not “it would have been disastrous, not only for villages in that neighbourhood but probably as far as Belladrum and Abary…”
Further, he said that were it not for the budget cuts, the region would have been allocated more funds from Central Government to complete the work in a timely manner and avoid the flooding situation.
Meanwhile, in terms of solid waste management, the chairman said central government and the region entered into contractual arrangements with three contractors.
Plans are in place, he said, for the establishment of three disposal sites at Burma Road that would accommodate residents from Mahaica to Mahaicony, one at St. John that would cater for residents from the Abary Bridge to Fort Wellington area and at Zorg-En-Hoop that would serve residents from Ithaca to Bath.
Awareness campaigns for the initiative would be held through the distribution of 40,000 flyers as well as television advertisement while consultations have already been done across the 10 Neighbourhood Democratic Council.
The region also received $9.8 M through the Youth Choice Initiative to undertake community works and have constructed bleachers and fence at the Cotton Tree playground. The money was also used to carry out repairs to the grounds at Paradise and Hopetown villages.
