Latest update April 14th, 2025 12:08 AM
Latest News
- Hess’ lifting cost per barrel in Guyana only $US7
- ExxonMobil billed Guyana US$120 million for exploration in 2024- Annual Report reveals
- Over 1,560 killed since Israel broke Gaza truce
- RSS team begins investigation into shooting death of Linden men
- Security guard shoots two brothers who stabbed him during row at supermarket
Low revenue collection fails to stymie Rising Sun NDC
The Profit/Rising Sun Neighborhood Democratic Council on the West Coast Berbice is aiming to execute a $5.5 M work programme in its ten villages this year even though it is hobbled by constraints such as low payments of rates.
The Profit/Rising Sun NDC Office.Veteran Profit/Rising Sun NDC Councillor Mr Fitzroy Fordyce
Overseer Ms Andrea Moriah said that the sum is to be spent on further upgrades of residential drains as well as maintenance of roads, dams and bridges within the NDC which is bracketed by Rising Sun in the east and Plantation Profitt in the west.
In between are villages such as Weldaad and Belladrum.
Moriah said that residential drains are to be upgraded to prevent flooding during rains.
These village drains are part of the tertiary drainage network in West Berbice .
Further upgrades will ensure that they can drain efficiently into the secondary and primary drainage network owned by the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA).
The upgrades will also include the installation of drainage tubes and self-acting sluice doors in specific areas of some of the villages.
The NDC plans to upgrade streets at Paradise village at a cost of $3M with part of the costs for this and other projects being met by a $3M annual Government subvention.
A secondary drainage canal within the Profit /Rising Sun NDC.
Overseer Moriah said that the NDC would want to do more but has been hobbled by problems such as outdated valuations on lands and buildings, low levels of payments by residents and inability to collect rates from new buildings because their value had not been officially assessed.
On the issue of valuations, Moriah said that the last valuations of land and buildings in the NDC had taken place more than two decades ago.
“These old valuations are the figures that we are now working with even though the worth of many of those buildings have increased since then due to renovations and extensions and so on,” she said.
With these outdated valuations the highest rate retrievable for many residents in these villages is about $3,000 per year.
Additionally, there have been many new constructions since then but the NDC cannot collect rates from the owners because the value of these newly constructed buildings are yet to be appraised.
Another woe is the fact that even though the rates are low many residents have not been paying promptly. The arrears rates due to the Council at the end of last year amounted to $5.6M.
The Overseer said that the NDC is as a result struggling to carry out its mandate.
The Council remains optimistic that this year will see an improvement in payments so that other works such as renovation of its aging Office can eventually take place.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The mirage of citizen investment
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The latest song and dance from the corridors of political power in Guyana comes wrapped... more
Collaborative Government–Private Sector Action Imperative for a Resilient Trade Future
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- On April 9, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day suspension of the higher... more
Weekend Cartoon
