The pace of road rehabilitation in East Berbice is progressing rapidly despite adverse conditions in the preliminary stages which affected the progress of the work. So far 60 percent of the road rehabilitation has been completed in the region.
Government recently allocated financial resources worth $G40 million to complete critical road works between Joanna/Yakusari and Black Bush Polder. Work on this five-mile stretch is expected to be completed within four months.
Repairs to another six-mile stretch with a budgetary expenditure of $G14 million is currently in progress in Islington/Rotterdam and Betsy Ground/Gangaram. In addition, $G10 million is being expended for the repairs to Princess Elizabeth Road and other roads in New Amsterdam.
The Charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Guyana, Hugh Simon, has rejected speculation by the People's National Congress that a US army engineering and humanitarian mission planned for July-September 1997 was intended to affect general elections to be held late in the same year. Simon said that it was flawed reasoning to suggest that the humanitarian exercise would have anything to do with elections.
In a letter to Simon, Leader of the PNC Desmond Hoyte, claimed that the US military presence would be intimidatory and would influence the course of the elections in favor of the PPP/Civic..
Under the $US4 million project, two schools, a health center and a senior citizens home will be rehabilitated by a contingent of US soldiers.
Guyana is the highest producer of milk in the Caribbean. This was stated by Dr. Steve Surujballi, the Director of the National Dairy Development Programme (NDDP) at the Third National Cattle Farmers' Congress. He said that with the assistance of technological packages provided by the NDDP, cattle farmers have increased their herds and increased milk production. Guyana is currently producing 62.4 million pints of milk annually. This is equivalent to four billion Guyana dollars. Milk production in Guyana has increased by nearly 50 percent since 1992.
The multi-million dollar cars used to transport late President Forbes Burnham and ex-President Desmond Hoyte are being sold by the Office of the President and the proceeds will be used to promote culture in Guyana.
These vintage vehicles, of which few or none of the same type exist in Guyana, are worth so much that the Office of the President hopes to channel the earnings to build a facility to be located at the Burrowes School of Art. The fleet of cars include a Rolls Royce and a Daimler.
The Burrowes School or Art, which utilizes a building in the original State House compound on Carmichael Street in Georgetown, is to be relocated to a more convenient location, and several sites are being examined to construct the new building for the school.
The lack of financial accountability of the Georgetown City Council has again been complained about by Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo. The Minister made this comment in response to renewed charges by PNC and GGG members of the council that central government was starving the city of funds.
Jagdeo restated that early in the year when budgetary allocations were made for the cleaning of drains and collection of garbage, the funds were used instead to purchase executive-type vehicles and for other expenses inconsistent with the needs of the City. The Minister said that officials of City Hall were in such a rush to purchase the vehicles that they paid taxes on them and are now seeking a rebate from the Ministry of Finance. He added that despite the Government's objection to the lack of accountability, subventions to City Hall have doubled what was received from the previous administration.
City Hall was lambasted by the Minister for "abdicating its responsibilities to the citizens and, as such, the PPP/Civic Government has had to dole out millions to rescue the city from its sufferings."
President Cheddi Jagan expressed criticisms of the action plan of the hemispheric summit on sustainable development which was held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on December 7-8. In his speech to the summit, he said that although CARICOM supported the plan, he found that it focused largely on environmental issues instead of social and economic concerns, important areas for achieving sustainable development. The Guyanese leader pointed out that CARICOM believed that the plan was deficient in its limited treatment of the vulnerability of the region which is prone to pervasive damage from natural disasters. He also expressed concern about the shipment of nuclear waste through Caribbean waters. This, he said, "creates another major source of potential disaster."
President Jagan expressed CARICOM's desire to participate fully in the proposed Free Trade Areas of the Americas (FTAA), expected to come on stream by 2005. He insisted, though, that sustainable development would require fairness in terms of trade so that developing countries can benefit economically.
Guyana's delegation to the summit included Navin Chandarpal, Adviser to the President on Science and Technology and Guyana's Ambassador to the USA and the OAS, Odeen Ishmael.
The Bank of Guyana on December 10 announced the issue of a new 1,000-dollar note that goes into circulation from December 23. This is in keeping with the currency reform now underway in Guyana. As part of this reform, coins of one, five, ten, twenty-five and fifty cents have already ceased to be legal tender in the country.
On the new 1000-dollar note, the face side shows the map of Guyana with its natural resources and the crest of the Bank of Guyana, while the reverse side shows the Bank of Guyana building. The note has the same size of existing notes and the main colors on the front and back are red and green. It also has some easily identifiable features. Appearing on the right hand side of the face of the note is a gold color foil in the shape of the map of Guyana. To the right of the center face is a windowed color shift thread which means that the thread comes to the surface of the paper at intervals. This thread changes color between magenta and green depending on the viewing angle. The complete thread is visible only when the note is viewed against the light.
The Bank of Guyana earlier this year issued coins of one, five and ten dollar denominations and
will discontinue currency notes in these values at the end of December. The country currently
has twenty, one hundred, five hundred and now one thousand dollar notes. Guyana has had to
introduce large currency notes since the rapid devaluation of its dollar in the 1980s and early
1990s. The Guyana dollar now trades at $141 to one US dollar.