Communities are more than houses

Jul 19, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

(Excerpts from an address to Parliament by Hon Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan M.P.)
“Your Government aims at providing accessible and affordable housing in sanitary and safe communities, with the necessity for wholesome and dignified living, for citizens in need. We shall ensure that all state-sponsored housing developments

Ronald Bulkan

are provided with recreational, educational and sports facilities in addition to basic infrastructure services such as electricity, telephones, roads, solid waste disposal and pure water supply.”- H.E. President, David Granger MSM, MSS
By now it may be well known that a new Ministry has been created, that is the Ministry of Communities. This Ministry encompasses what were formerly the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development as well as the Ministry of Housing and Water.
The Ministry comprises four departments. These being the Department for Housing, the Department for Water, the Department for Local Government and the Department for Regional Development. It is quite a large portfolio. In fact, when I was offered by the President if I was interested in accepting the position, which I now hold, that was the very comment he made. However, I am ably supported in my tasks and endeavours by having two capable and competent Ministers in my Ministry, these are Minister Keith Scott and Minister Dawn Hastings.
The obvious questions are why there is a new name and why there is the combining of those two Ministries. The brief answer is that it is a new philosophy or new mindset. The focus, therefore, is that from a governmental perspective it is not on the provision of individual services, for example Housing or Water, but on a larger objective which is addressing human needs or the human condition.
The Government therefore sees its responsibility to those in need as more than the provision of shelter but rather as delivering a community experience. A community by definition goes beyond a collection of houses. It has to have certain amenities to so qualify. Local government, regional development, housing and water all relate to people’s quality of life, of which the condition of one’s community is a major component. Central coordination will now result in a more rational formulation of policy and more effective delivery of governmental services.
Following on the foregoing, it can be said that the Ministry is created to influence the conditions that fulfil the vision for more cohesive, empowered and sustainable communities (CESC).
In pursuit of CESC vision, the Ministry will implement a strategy for sustainable communities by empowering and equipping local democratic organs to deliver satisfactory services, promote integrated water resources and sanitation management and provide quality, affordable housing solutions to satisfy the needs of communities and residents across Guyana.
Some key objectives of the Ministry:
(i)   It will promote decentralisation and democratic engagement and we will end the era of top- down government by finally honouring constitutional provisions relating to local governance and local democracy.
The constitutional provisions, to which I refer to, came into being in the year 1980. It was actually strengthened in the year 2001, with new additions to our Constitution and the subsequent process of local government which reforms, refines and defines a clearly articulated role for local democracy and local government organs.
(ii)   Strengthen the regional administration mechanism in keeping with the foregoing.
(iii)   To operationalise the Local Government Commission
(iv)   To create a national solid waste management plan to secure a sustainable solution at the level of the communities.
The plan will result in an integrative solid waste management system that is efficacious in the storage, collection, transportation and disposal of waste. It will explore initiatives resulting in marketable by-products for the agriculture, energy and construction sectors.
It is disgraceful that in the year 2015 our country does not have a single landfill site, one that provides for environmentally-safe disposal of municipal solid waste. The Haags Bosch facility, on which huge amounts of money was spent, has never operated the way it was conceptualised. It functions as a dumpsite.
Improper management of municipal solid waste results in blights on the landscape, countrywide. It is a problem that exists on the coast as well as in the hinterland. We have shown callous disregard for waste management. This administration will treat this issue with the seriousness which it deserves. This administration will solve the problem of managing solid waste.
(v)   Re-establishment of the National Water Council to promote integrated management water resources.
(vi)   Development of a national waste water management plan to transform current national waste water practices and achieve international compliance.
(vii)   Development of a housing policy and strategic plan that targets provision of cohesive communities in which housing solutions are complemented with educational, health and recreational amenities. Affordable alternative options, direct housing and land divestiture will be incorporated in this plan.
(viii)   A loss reduction and energy efficiency plan to improve operational efficiency at the provision of potable water service.
(ix)   Institution of a hinterland water strategy to mitigate the impact of climate change and mining on the provision of safe water in remote and indigenous areas.
(x)   Strengthened community disaster risk management mechanisms to build capacity for early warning and early response to droughts, floods and other disasters impacting on the well-being of the community.
(To be continued next week)