GPF must be ready for challenges with massive development of East Coast – Commander Pareshram

The East Coast of Demerara is set for massive development and transformation in the coming months and years and this will no doubt be challenging for the Guyana Police Force.

But Regional Commander, Khali Pareshram said strategies will be formulated to deal with these challenges beforehand.

“There are several challenges that we are seeing in the short and medium-term and we need to put the systems in place to meet those challenges if we are to positively deal with those challenges,” Pareshram said during the Force’s ‘Police and You’ programme on Friday.

Before the end of this year, six new housing schemes are expected between La Bonne Intention (LBI) and Strathspey.

“Those additional housing areas will be challenging for the force and we need to cope with it,” Pareshram said.

Additionally, the landscape at Ogle is expected to be transformed into a commercial hub with the construction of several hotels, ExxonMobil’s Headquarters and the upgrading of the Eugene Correia International Airport.

“We already have Exxon main office being built there [Ogle], there is some talk on the airport [about] upgrading the facilities there and between Goedverwagting to LBI, those additional areas we will see in the medium term, if not this year, next year, according to our colleagues from [Central Housing and Planning Authority] that those areas are also identified for housing,” Pareshram said.

Aside from that, a landmark US$35 million agro-processing facility is in the works to be constructed at Enmore. The government inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Caribbean International Distributors Inc., a member of the Rudisa Group of Companies, for the development of the facility in August last year.

Pareshram said the management of the Police Force has already commenced working with the various communities on the coast as part of confronting future challenges.

“We want to build all the partnerships we can, we want to build all the safe communities we can at this stage so we can in the medium term, whatever systems we are putting in place, we will be able to cope with those challenges.”