Govt to launch Wales Development Authority soon

His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali has said the Government is moving ahead with one of its flagship projects which will see the creation of a Wales Development Authority (WDA).

The President made this announcement in his feature address at the ‘Dream Realised’ housing initiative held at the Guyana National Stadium on Friday.

“The Wales Development Authority will be a new area of development that will benefit from special incentives, that will benefit from a special tax regime to motivate investors in manufacturing, industrial development, warehousing, connectivity [and] wharf development,” President Ali disclosed.

The Head of State said the project is expected to foster two main outcomes.

“These types of activities will drive a new economic revolution will create sustainable housing and sustainable jobs. That is linked to a massive housing development that we are going to do on the West Bank side of the river,” he explained.

To this this end, there will be a rezoning of activities in Wales which will be done in an environmentally friendly manner.

Wales is regarded as a depressed community following the closure of the Wales Sugar Estate by the former administration, which put hundreds of persons on the breadline. While the Government has taken steps to revive the sugar industry and are reopening other estates, sugar production will not resume at Wales. The lengthy downtime at the estate, corrosion of equipment and the selling off of the estate’s assets has made restarting impractical.