With Santa Rosa being the village in Region One where most of the region’s important institutions are located and where most activities takes place, Senior Councillor and Secretary of the Santa Rosa Village Council Maurice Torres is calling for assistance from both the government and his local villagers to aid in its further development.
Home to approximately 12,000 residents, Santa Rosa is in Moruca which is sub-district in Region One, BarimaWaini. According to Torres, the community holds a lot of potential in the areas of tourism and agriculture, which needs to be properly developed by its residents along with the help of the government.
Speaking to Stabroek News on Saturday last, Torres highlighted areas where work needs to be done along with the village council’s hopes and plans to have certain strategies implemented.
As he rallied for development in his village, the councillor said that it can only be done if leaders first communicate with their residents in a transparent manner. “First we have to start looking at ourselves as leaders, local leaders as village councils and toshaos. We need to set the example first in terms of how we run the villages’ business, … we need to be honest with the people, we need to keep them updated on what is going on and once we do that we’ll have a good relationship with the people. Then we can sit with the people and discuss what are some of those concerns…,” Torres said.
For him, the main issue affecting the village is littering. According to him, with the community now budding into eco-tourism which was launched last Monday with the biking and canoeing experience, a clean environment should be of top priority in order to attract tourists.
In order to do so, Torres said, the village council has been in talks with the French government to access funds from the Small Grant Project (SGP) to have a dumpsite developed, and to purchase garbage trucks. The counil is also currently discussing these two projects with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He noted that a resident has since allocated a large piece of land to be used as the site.
“[We have heard] through the grapevine [that] we’ve got [the EPA] greenlight already,” Torres said. “So what we’re doing right is there is this SGP French grant and we’re applying for that, which is between one to ten million dollars. We’re working on the concept note for that so that… we can develop the waste disposal site. … We’re also applying for another grant that is to work on the garbage maybe to purchase garbage trucks and so forth… So we’re currently working on a sustainability plan for that and the awareness and so forth… That is one of the things we need to tackle first because Santa Rosa is moving in the direction of tourism…”
He stated that at present, the village has a few tractors which help with disposal of garbage at a small irregular dumpsite, but noted that the equipment’s primary use is for commercial purposes which aids in its maintenance, since the persons who operate the machine would only be paid a stipend of $30,000 per month. “… From time to time those tractors would be fetching sand for people or doing work for people or so forth; the priority is not for the garbage, which is why Santa Rosa council, we had a discussion and said we would like to purchase a garbage truck so that the focus can be on the garbage…,” he added.
Asked how people are currently disposing of their garbage, the councillor said that most of them usually burn their garbage but the council aims to discourage that practice since the village is in its initial stages of promoting the eco-tourism brand.
To this end, Torres is also calling on the government to assist with building proper roads in the community. This would include perhaps surveying the boundaries of various properties, as the council is currently trying to ensure that people do not have to walk through each other’s premises to get to their destination.
Moreover, with a rise in substance abuse cases being recorded in the village, Torres is also chasing after more programmes and perhaps training for young people. He believes sports is one of the main ways to prevent addiction and urged that some of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) funds be used to construct proper playfields.
“We have really good footballers. We have very good cricket players. Recently we got a new playfield… constructed by the government, but the ground needs to be upgraded more,” he said.
He added that the playfield, which was also donated by a resident, measures about 10 acres. The government has so far spent some $10 million on the recreational space. Torres said that once it is further developed it could help in unifying the villages in Region One since sports and other activities tend to foster cohesion.
Moreover, as it relates to the LCDS funds, the secretary said, “It was announced at the last meeting we had with the government, that was on Wednesday and Thursday, that our area would be receiving $24 million from the LCDS funds, so I will soon be having a meeting with my area residents and we will develop a plan because we have up until March month-end to come up with a plan.”
The village council is also lobbying for better health services and facilities along with more doctors to be deployed to the region. According to Torres, since Santa Rosa is basically the hot spot for Region One, most people, when sick, travel to the Kumaka District Hospital for treatment but usually have to wait for hours. As such, he said, talks are also ongoing to have another hospital constructed in another village in the Moruca sub-district.
Santa Rosa is also a village known for fishing and farming and Torres said that the council plans on legally implementing an agriculture and aquaculture association under the Ministry of Agriculture in order to have that support.
