The process for identifying the depressed communities for which emergency projects will be implemented is being set in motion.
The May 6 communiqué signed by President Bharrat Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin, states that $60M is immediately available for implementing the projects.
Stabroek News understands that steps have been taken to re-convene the joint committee, which was being co-chaired by Parliamentary Secretary Philomena Sahoye-Shury and PNCR parliamentarian Andy Goveia when the Jagdeo/ Hoyte dialogue process was suspended. Among its members are Chief Planner Clyde Roopchand, engineer Bert Carter, SIMAP head, Harrinarine Nawbatt and former head of the Lands and Survey Department, Theo Earle.
The committee, according to the communiqué, has a month to provide President Jagdeo and Corbin with a list of depressed communities, including those identified in the committee’s report of June 2002, from which they would identify those in which projects could be implemented. The June 2002 report contained a list of 64 communities, which the committee identified as depressed and in which projects were to be identified and implemented as a matter of urgency.
The 64 communities were in addition to the original four of Buxton, De Kinderen, Non Pariel and Meten-Meer-Zorg where an initial $60M was spent on projects the residents identified at meetings with the committee. Tardy implementation of these projects was one of the reasons given by the PNCR for the suspension of the Jagdeo/Hoyte dialogue. However, the communiqué said that both the President and Corbin had agreed that these projects have indeed been completed.