No more just the 'Cinderella' County
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
November 4, 2003
THEY once called Essequibo Coast the 'Cinderella County.'
'Cinderella,' according to a 1983 edition of Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, is "a girl whose beauty or merit is for a time unrecognized."
People usually refer to a country or place using the feminine gender. And it is possible that whoever gave Essequibo Coast its name did so with a vision of the coast one day becoming recognizable for its virtually pristine beauty and natural resource endowment, as well as the resolve of Government and the county's inhabitants to transform it into Guyana's premier growth zone.
Hence, the name 'Cinderella' with which the Essequibo Coast has been labeled for years and years is no longer just that. So many changes have taken place for the advancement of the people and the country that it would not be easy to enumerate all.
What has happened over the last ten years has not only changed the landscape and uplifted the residents of the Essequibo Coast to a better standard of living; it has also brought new hope to an area of Guyana long neglected, long forgotten.
Some 25 schools have been constructed and a large percentage of those left dilapidated by the previous government have been reconstructed. Along with that, secondary education has been provided in Amerindian communities.
There is a teachers' training center in Cotton Field. There are now three computer schools and five Internet facilities that are boosting information technology on the coast.
Six sports facilities have been built in the region. There is a new technical institute at Anna Regina and a police training school at Suddie. And just last week Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj commissioned a $40 million fire service station at Anna Regina.
Essequibo also now boasts a 36-mile roadway from Charity to Supenaam and a new Wartsilla generating plant at Anna Regina. There is now a multi-purpose complex at Anna Regina where residents can get birth certificates and carry out business that formerly required a long, costly visit to Georgetown.
A Supreme Court has been constructed at Suddie.
Nine new housing schemes have helped relieve the housing shortage, with all streets in the housing areas being upgraded. Nine submergible water pumps now boost the supply of pure water.
There is a new, modern Town Hall at Anna Regina and a modern market constructed at Bush Lot. A farmers' wharf has been constructed at Charity and a concrete regulator at Red Lock to control and retain water in the Tapakuma Lake for irrigation purposes.
The are now health centers and health posts in all the Amerindian communities along the Essequibo Coast. Some 32,500 acres of rice lands are under cultivation and a seed paddy bond and drying floor constructed at Anna Regina.
The area has a holiday resort at Mainstay, four new sawmills in operation and, just last week, the President commissioned a pineapple processing plant.
For those who propagate the notion that Guyana is not progressing, let them take a look at the once-degraded 'Cinderella' County. To those who manage the Regional Democratic Council, go our congratulations.