With Bartica set to be declared a town on April 23, community leaders say a range of activities are planned and the community aims to become a model for the country.
“As a born Bartician I am very proud to be able to represent my community, the new town of Bartica. Some of the works that we have already started in Bartica is majorly the cleaning up (of) the streets, the drains and the roadways and we intend to intensify the cleanup campaign,” Deputy Mayor Kamal Persaud said yesterday. During an engagement with reporters at the boardroom of the Ministry of Communities, Persaud explained that they have started to create green spaces and are renovating and creating play-parks around Bartica. “We have been able to look at a number of projects and we are already delivering results,” she asserted.
Prior to April 23, the community will also host several events. On April 21, a social to celebrate the senior citizens of Bartica who have contributed tremendously in moulding the generation and community, will be held. “For that day, they will be taken to a special venue and will be treated to refreshment and different types of entertainment,” the deputy-mayor said.
On April 22, there will be a “night of hope…there will be a gospel concert with all of the churches to celebrate and usher in our township,” Persaud said.
According to her, on the big day April 23, “Bartica will become lit.”
Persaud said the day’s events will open with a military parade and a parachuting display. In the afternoon, there will be the official ceremony that will be attended by various government officials including President David Granger who will formally declare Bartica a town. This will be followed by cultural presentations.
Bartica’s first citizen Mayor Gifford Marshall said while Guyana is experiencing interesting and serious times, the community is privileged to have lots to celebrate and have created history.
“On October 21, 2015, Bartica was gazette as a town and on the 23rd of April, Bartica will be having its ceremonial declaration and that is a very, very important day for us and we will use the day to showcase the culture, diversity and who we are as a people,” he said.
According to Marshall, unlike the rest of Guyana, Bartica is not a place that is divided politically and the people do not “fetch around ethnic baggage.”
“Bartica is united and is a town where we look out for each other, we love each other and we want to set an example for the rest of Guyana,” he asserted. According to Marshall, those are the reasons that Granger, in his vision, saw for Bartica to become a model town.
“…And we are going to be Guyana’s first model town because we are going down the road of greening our entire township,” the mayor declared. He added that when it comes to tourism, he believes that they have what it takes to become Guyana’s first tourism capital and will be working towards that goal.
“We intend to build a modern town hall with our hope that the building will be a centre-piece for 100 years from now and will represent our culture and who we are as a people,” he said. Marshall related that construction should commence in several months on Fourth Avenue where the old Lands and Surveys building used to be.
“It will have solar panels and we intend to explore underground parking because when you are passing we don’t want you to see the vehicles, we want you to see a beautiful park with trees,” he said. The mayor added that while the project is extremely expensive, with the help of stakeholders and government it can be achieved.
“We have to restructure our roads if you are going to become a green town. You must consider the asphalt and explore other building material and restructure it in such a way that we have proper lanes and the lights work,” he said.
Marshall also highlighted the issue of youth employment. He said more focus needs to be put on the amount of youths dropping out of school and teenage pregnancy. He indicated that he will be working closely with the business community to tackle youth unemployment and school dropout issues.
Another major project he highlighted was the building of a municipal airport which he hopes will be able to link Linden, Mahdia and Lethem.
Lennox Rankin, councillor of Constituency 2 reiterated that members of the community have been occupied with cleaning in preparation for the day. He said they are very excited for the “rebirth of Bartica.”
The celebrations will be under the theme “Embracing the past, celebrating the present and preparing for the future,” and is expected to draw thousands of Barticians from around the country and abroad back home.
