Residents who take part in government’s planned city clean-up will be compensated, Newtown, Kitty residents were told on Tuesday when the Ministry of Local Government hosted a consultation on the project.
Just under two dozen persons attended the meeting, held at the St.Winefride’s Secondary School, where project coordinator Gordon Gilkes, Environmental Officer attached to the Ministry of Natural Resources Aretha Forde and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government Collin Croal sought to get them involved in the cleaning of the city.
Akilah Dorris, Community Monitoring and Development Officer, said that residents who take part in the cleaning of the community will be compensated for their work. “We don’t want to call it payment but they will be compensated,” Dorris said, while adding that all cleaning equipment will be provided to persons desirous of taking part in the clean-up campaign.
According to Dorris, in addition to the cleanup campaign, the Ministry of Local Government will also embark on educating persons in Georgetown on the need for a clean environment.
This will be done with the hope that after the cleanup campaign, persons refrain from littering, which will return the city to its glory days. “The objective is to also raise awareness on the benefits of a clean environment,” she said. Dorris added that the aim of the consultations is to get residents of various communities involved in the clean-up project by way of community groups. She stated that in their previous visit to Albouystown, the ministry found a number of community groups. She explained that in the event they come across a community which does not have any community groups present, the aim of the Ministry is to encourage residents to form community groups.
This project is an initiative taken to clean up the city of Georgetown after $1 billion was allocated in the 2014 National Budget towards the clean-up of Guyana, with $500M allocated to Georgetown which covers areas from Agricola on the East Bank Demerara to Cummings Lodge on the East Coast.
