The development of the road from Lethem to Georgetown as well as income-generation were at the centre of deliberations at the recently held Linden Economic Recovery Forum.

The two-day exercise sought to bring together community-development groups, religious, sports, youth and service organisations, NGOs, schools, business entities and the media to discuss the development of the town.

The forum was organised by the Regional Democratic Council of Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice), the Linden Town Council, the Linbridge Committee, the Linden Chamber of Com-merce, Industry and Develop-ment and a number of community-development committees.

The forum agreed that a strategic plan was essential for the region, and that infrastructural development must take account of the Lethem to Georgetown road which is routed through Linden.

A survey should be done, participants said, to anticipate the volume of traffic the highway would have to accommodate in the long-term, as it will link Boa Vista in Brazil to Guyana’s coast, and will provide access via the proposed deep-water port to US and European markets.

The discussions focused on a number of areas relevant to infrastructure development, specifically roads, drainage, port facilities, potable water, waste disposal, electricity, telephone and communications systems, security, immigration and customs. Housing, recreational and health facilities should also be an integral part of the strategic plan, the forum decided.

The Lethem-Georgetown road, some participants noted, has to be seen not only as a linkage between Brazil and Guyana but as creating a connection with the Pan American Highway and providing a link with Central and North America.

It was also observed that already there are regular broadcasts of programmes in Portuguese on the Linden branch of GTV and the community needs to make preparations to accommodate the expected traffic coming through from neighbouring Brazil.

On the question of job creation and income-generation, it was recommended that a number of those skilled persons who were laid off recently from the bauxite mining company, Linmine, should form a special company to offer their expertise to Cambior, Omai and other entities operating in the region. Forestry and agriculture were other areas identified for job-creation and income-generation in the depressed community.

Deliberating on the issue of institutional strengthening, a call was made for early local government elections with residents being given the opportunity to elect persons to contest for the posts of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and councillors. “We feel that councillors contesting for the next election should be qualified... and if they are not, there should be a... programme that would assist them to be more effective in their area,” one participant suggested.

Another point of view was that citizens should be educated on how the council works and the role of each office bearer since at present there is no reporting mechanism that keeps the public informed on what is happening in the Mayor and Town Council.

Speaking with Stabroek News, PNCR Chairman Vincent Alexander said that the Mayor and Town Council (M&TC) in Linden has to come into its own at this time since the town can no longer be deemed a “company town.” He noted that in the past the bauxite industry shouldered most of the responsibilities of the town, both administrative and financial. But now it was imperative that there be a strong partnership between the M&TC and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) with clear definitions of their respective roles and functions. “I don’t think that the M&TC recognises that it is a tier lower than the RDC and that they should relate to the RDC as a big brother. There are unnecessary conflicts that are interfering in the cooperation.” He suggested that since there are constant battles for space, especially in the Linden area, the RDC should focus more of its attention on the outlying areas of the region and allow the M&TC to deal with Linden proper.