Region 5 REO refutes claims of financial non-assistance to NDCs

Jan 11, 2018 News

Region 5 REO, Ovid Morrison

Region Five’s (Mahaica-Berbice) Regional Executive Officer (REO) Ovid Morrison, has refuted claims of not financially assisting some of the region’s Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) to complete their developmental works for 2017.

This was revealed on Tuesday, during a press conference held at the regional administration’s boardroom.

Morrison explained that the region has allocated and provided each NDCs with funding that accumulated to approximately $699M apart from their $4M subvention facilitated by the government.

The REO said that some of the developmental works undertaken by the NDCs have exceeded the amount obtained by the government, hence the regional administration provided assistance to the councils.

According to Morrison, a few communities have provided false statements to the media regarding the assistance provided by the regional administration, in particular, Bath/Woodley Park.

“I would say from my knowledge, the Bath/Woodley Park community has done upgrading of the main entrance for Waterloo for $10.5M; rehabilitation of a two street Woodley Park for $7.1M; tiling of Bath Primary School, for $4.9M; construction of external toilet for guard at Waterloo School for $596,616; tiling of Woodley Park Nursery School for $1.5M; excavating and cleaning of drainage canal in Bath Block ‘D’ for $5M among other areas accumulating to $52M,” he explained.

According to the REO, although there is false information circulating about the region’s administration, it will not hinder his team from continuing to support the NDCs financially as they execute various projects to benefit residents in their respective communities.

On the matter of subventions, it was highlighted that in 2017, Union/Naarstigheid, Mahaicony/Abary and the Woodlands/Bel Air NDCs were among those that successfully utilised all of their subventions.

Expenditure of Union/Naarstigheid NDC’s subvention saw the construction of two all-weather roads at a cost of $2.2M and $1.8 respectively. Mahaicony/Abary’s subvention enabled them to purchase ten High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes to improve residential drainage at cost of $1.3M, construction of dams at a cost of $713,000 and a walkway on the Huntley Railway Embankment (at Bharat Street) costing $1.8M.

They also invested a portion of their grant in the purchase of one Canon Image Runner Photocopier and one toner cartridge at a cost of $221,000 to improve office efficiency. Woodlands/Bel Air NDC fully utilised its $4M subvention with the construction of a new street in No. 8 Village Middlewalk community.

It was further explained that the Profit/Rising Sun NDC used its subvention to purchase road building materials for repairs and maintenance of roadways in its communities at a cost of $700,000 and the construction of a footpath bridge costing $600,000. High-density polyethylene tubes (HDPE) with self-acting doors to improve residential drainage were also bought.

Bath/Woodley Park NDC’s subvention projects included the construction of twenty speed bumps on various roads within the community, the purchase of road building materials for road repairs and maintenance, HDPE tubes and self-acting koker doors to enhance residential drainage.

They also purchased a tractor-pulled slasher costing $800,000.

The Blairmont/Gelderland (B/G) NDC acquired and used $2M of crusher run, stone, hot mix and white sand to repair and upgrade roads within the villages and its boundaries.

Rosignol/Zeelust NDC (R/Z) completed construction of an access road in Bennet Dam at a cost of $1.7M and the construction of an access road to the cemetery at Number Four Village for $1.1M.

Tempie/Seafield used $2M to fence playgrounds at Lichfield and Brittania villages while Hamlet/Chance undertook construction of 75 rods of DBST – Double bituminous surface treatment road at a cost of $2.3M and a koker door at a cost of $400,000.

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