Engineering and environmental workshops are among the activities the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has slated for thios year, along with a staff retreat to review 2012 and plan for 2013.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Permanent Secretary Collin Croal said the regional engineering session, which will be held at the International Conference Centre is expected to have over 100 participants. Issues such as the preparation of bill of quantities and designs, treating of advances and interim payments and the monitoring and evaluation of projects will be addressed.
Following this activity will be the Regional Environmental workshop which is scheduled for January 23 and will see the participation of regional environmental health officers, and assistants. This workshop is also slated to have over 100 participants.
Topics such as the treatment of waste and dealing with issues arising from the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC) are to be dealt with.
Some of these activities were scheduled for last year but had to be postponed because of a number of variables. Commencing January 3 and continuing until today, the ministry held its retreat for staff and participants included municipal officers, regional development officers and other members of the ministry.
Croal noted in his explanation of the retreat that the ministry is grateful for the approval of the recruitment of a number of officers to improve and expand the local government division.
Minister of Local Government, Ganga Persaud, said that during the course of this month they will be bringing together key players like hospitals and regional health officers who will seek to focus on the level and quality of health care being offered in the coastal regions. Focus will also be on the delivery of education in these areas.
Revealing other plans for the year, Persaud said, “the ministry is hoping to achieve quite a lot of information and policy direction out of the retreat. We are hoping to have that incorporated into our System Development Plan at the ministry level.’’
He also mentioned that he met contractors in Regions 5 and 6, who have received contract awards for road construction.
At this meeting, talks were held on the timely commencement and completion of work, payments for measured work and the implementation of related damage the minister added.
