A $328M rehabilitation of the Onverwagt main access road in the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary- Agriculture Development Authority (MMA-ADA) Scheme commenced last Friday, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Monday.
A total of 5 kilometres of the dam will be upgraded to an all-weather road, and once completed, will improve access to over 12,000 acres of farmland and further heighten production in the scheme.
The contract was awarded to Romell Jagroop General Construc-tion Services and the project is expected to be completed before the end August, 2021. Back in January of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture hosted a sod turning exercise to signify the commencement of the project.
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha said that his ministry was moving aggressively with resuscitating the sector, adding that government ‘means business’ when it comes to Guyana realizing its full agricultural potential.
“In January, we held a sod turning exercise for this project. Since then, the contractor has been carrying out a series of tests and preliminary works. If, as a government, we are looking to double agriculture production by 2025, then we have to ensure farmers face the necessary infrastructure to access their lands. The government is very much invested in agriculture development in Guyana and will continue to invest heavily in infrastructure and other agents of agricultural development, not only in the MMA Scheme, but all across the country,” Mustapha said. The minister also said that farmers can expect greater improvements in infrastructure with the passage of the 2021 National Budget.
“As you know, I presented a $22.6B Budget proposal for the ministry of agriculture last Wednesday. $12B of that will go towards infrastructural development such as the construction and maintenance of drainage and irrigation structures and farm to market access roads. These works will be executed in all the agriculture producing regions of the country,” Mustapha said.
