In next five years, 50,000 homes should have computers - Jagdeo Stabroek News September 25, 2000 President Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday again expressed his displeasure with the functioning of the local phone company while pointing out that government is in the process of negotiating an end to its monopoly. "We are in the process of trying to get a negotiated settlement" with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, stated Jagdeo, while stressing if that is not achieved, then the way may be open for other methods to be employed. The head of state, who was at the time delivering the feature address at the commissioning of the $81.2 million Stewartville Secondary School, noted that it was imperative that lines were connected to every home. This he added was needed to ensure the development of information technology. Declaring that 50,000 families should in the next five years possess computers in their homes, he saw the necessity to raise the level of line provision to secure this possibility. Bold initiatives, he contended, are necessary to make the dream a reality as it had the capacity to secure thousands of jobs especially among the present crop of students thus enabling the country to keep abreast with the pace of the developed world. Guyana, he stated, needed to make a quantum leap if it was to get on the information superhighway. The president also outlined other projected advances for the country which include the resurfacing of the main public road in the region and the development of the four-lane highway on the East Bank of Demerara linking the Demerara Harbour Bridge. Jagdeo also told the audience which included Canadian High Commissioner Jacque Crete, officials from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and national and regional education officials, that he had signalled to international funding agencies at a recent meeting, that approximately US$50 million is needed to bring the country into the information technology age. The goal, he stated, was to computerise every learning institution in the country. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today