Minister of Natural Re-sources, Vickram Bharrat on Monday disclosed that the trail leading from Kwakwani in Region 10 to Orealla in Region Six will be developed with works expected to commence as early as next year.
According to the minister, who was speaking to residents in Orealla during an outreach, the project will be a collaboration between his ministry and the Ministry of Public Works.
“We are going to develop the road from Kwakwani to Orealla, and as a matter of fact, that road will start early next year we have already started to secure the funding for it”, he said.
While stressing that the project will materialize and become a reality, the minister noted, “I know that this has been one of the issues that has been festering for a long time for Orealla”.
He then pointed out that the trail being developed would make it easier for residents of Orealla and Siparuta to take their produce to the coast and also open up new lands.
Bharrat then sought to point out that there is a lot of land and concessions in the area causing a resident to interject “and agricul-ture”. The minister then noted: “Exactly but it is hard to access it because you don’t have the infrastructure”.
According to Bharrat, over the next few years his ministry will be focusing on infrastructure in mining and logging areas, “that is a priority for us”, he stressed.
The minister also pointed out that presently Suriname is exporting more logs than Guyana “even though we have about 87% of our country … covered by forest so we could produce more but what is our problem – infrastructure”.
He then stated, “So we as a government we need to prioritize and make it possible to ensure that there is proper infrastructure so that small loggers from Orealla can harvest the logs in their concession and can take it to the market without carrying up the overhead cost”.
“So we are going to develop that road starting next year, you will see some work start happening on that trail straight to Kwakwani and we already start work on the Kwakwani to Linden trail”, he added.
Meanwhile, the minister also said that there is a possibility for a link to be created from Orealla to Brazil, “and it might sound as though it is a pipe dream but it would become a reality because our government is committed to building that highway from Linden to Lethem”.
He relayed, that the President of Brazil is expected to visit Guyana soon to engage President Irfaan Ali on the said matter. He said, “Brazil is interested in building that highway because it will benefit them more than us”.
He explained, “In Brazil the commercial centre to the closest point to the Atlantic is 5,000 kilo-meters… To come from Brazil to Guyana is 1,000 kilometers so it makes sense to bring Brazil produce to Guyana and then ship it out to North America and other parts of the world”.
He added, “That now will create a link directly into Orealla and so even your tourism will be boosted in Orealla”.
