Dear Editor,
Being a Guyanese and Essequibian, I have been following the proposals in the country’s 2014 Budget, and all I have seen so far as a major project for the Essequibo Coast is drainage and irrigation works. This is not too big of a development because the government, both past and present, has been doing same every year. If we can remember the Tapacuma Projects I and II in the ’80s, these were big projects. I know this is needed for the rice farms to progress, but we need other progress. While some things have been done, we need to see more development for the Cinderella County (coast). I am suggesting a few which should be considered for inclusion in future Budgets:
(1) It is time for elevators at the Suddie Hospital – not one but two; one to assist the porters to transport sick patients and the other for maids to take the meals up the many floors and even other staff, at times, when they have to move from floor to floor. While walking is good exercise for them they need that relief at times, and this will also assist the elderly when they have to visit their loved ones who may be hospitalised.
(2) It is time for the Essequibo Coast Public Road to be widened. There are times when you stand on the road and watch two laden trucks which can barely pass each other, much less accommodate pedestrians walking at the side. Consideration have to be given to the fact that the world is developing, and this is not years ago, when it was just donkey carts and pedestrians. Now it is vehicles of all types traversing the public road along with pedestrians, cyclists, trucks, and even donkey carts, especially when it is school time. Two years back standing on the road around 15:30 hrs and looking at those minibuses, there was real madness going on. The speed was too great, especially when taking the Perseverance turn. This goes for other turns in various areas as well, but there are no traffic cops patrolling the road.
(3) Transport and Harbours should do something to keep the Adventure Stelling as a historic place on the coast. There may be some businessmen such as those in the fisheries business who could use it at a cost.
(4) Next is the Suddie Post Office building, which is in a very bad condition. This is a historic building that needs to be refurbished so our young ones see what wooden buildings were like. There are more wooden buildings which could be refurbished rather than converting them to concrete structures. During my time as a child on the Essequibo Coast, my grandmother who was born in the 1880s made direct reference to those buildings which my siblings and I have memories of, and our children as well, but for the next generation, this history seems obsolete. For example, the Suddie Police Station, Suddie Hospital and the defunct Colony House. You can see the pitchpine wood and also greenheart in them, and as a matter of fact, I think historians should do some research to see how long those buildings were in existence.
(5) Research should also be done on the Golden Fleece koker and other old-time kokers that existed in the 1880s and even the Anna Regina high bridge; these should be preserved as national monuments.
(6) Further, I will suggest that these old-time buildings and structures are good for tourism and even school tours.
Yours faithfully,
Elaine Mavo
