Dr. Jagdeo announces establishment of unit to deal with issues raised at government outreaches

A special unit to follow up on issues raised at the administration’s nationwide outreaches has been established by the Office of the President. Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo made the disclosure Tuesday evening, during a Facebook interview.

Vice President Jagdeo pointed out that some 44 issues have already been resolved along the Essequibo Coast following his visit there. “Since I came back from Essequibo the contract for the dredging of the Pomeroon River has been awarded, that’s a big impact. The cereal plant has been reopened,” the VP said.

Dr. Jagdeo disclosed that the dredging of the Pomeroon River mouth was among several commitments made to residents of Region Two, even as the administration advanced efforts to mitigate flooding there. The VP stressed that Government, through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) in April, awarded the over $569.3M contract to Gaico Construction and General Services Inc. to complete the project.

He explained that with the reopening of the Morning Glory Inc. popularly known as the cereal plant in the region, a number of employment opportunities will become available. The Vice President during his recent outreach, disclosed that efforts will be made to return the factory to full operation.

He revealed that Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, made a follow up visit and inspected the facility ahead of its opening. He said that due to Covid-19, operations at the factory had scaled down. Meanwhile, r. Jagdeo stressed that while the announcement of some 800 part-time jobs was made for persons within the region, the regional authorities have received almost 2, 000 applications.

“We are now going to contract the people for the part-time jobs, because we have all the applications in. We have nearly 2, 000 in Essequibo because of the distance and the lack of jobs there,” VP Jagdeo said. He continued, “We are moving on those big initiatives that would affect large numbers of people.” 

Dr. Jagdeo added that the Government continues to conduct outreaches weekly throughout the administrative regions, in keeping with its commitment of engaging citizens at the grass roots.