Farmers and residents from areas within the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agriculture Development Authority (MMA-ADA) Scheme, West Coast Berbice as well as those residing in Black Bush Polder, Talorgie, and other surrounding communities on the Corentyne Coast will now benefit from further improvements to their drainage systems following the addition of approximately $127 million worth of heavy-duty machinery.
Through the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agriculture Sector Development Unit’s (ASDU) Flood Risk Management Project (FRMP), seven excavators; six mini excavators, and one long boom excavator; were procured through funding from the World Bank and added to the MMA’s and Region Six’s fleet of machinery.
Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha while offering remarks at the handing over exercise at the MMA’s Onverwagt office said the two additional excavators being added to MMA’s fleet will be used to carry out the desilting of internal drainage systems in the MMA scheme.
“Today, we’ll be handing over two brand new mini excavators to the MMA to further assist with improving drainage in the scheme. These machines will be used to desilt internal and interlocking drains within the housing areas,” the minister explained.
Furthermore, Minister Mustapha disclosed that two young females who benefited from skills training offered by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) were hired by the MMA to operate the excavators.
“Here we have two young women who benefited from the BIT training and are now operators. They were hired and will be the ones operating these machines. As a government, we believe in empowering young people. These young women took the opportunity and are now certified excavator operators. More young people should take up these opportunities. Get enrolled in these courses being offered by the Board of Industrial Training so that you too can be gainfully employed,” Minister Mustapha added.
Venita Chatergoon, 27, who resides at Number Five Village, West Boast Berbice said she was previously employed as a security officer. She said when she heard about the BIT programme, she enrolled and was able to benefit from the much-needed skills training. Meanwhile, Divya Ragbir, 22 said she was elated to be gainfully employed after recently becoming a certified excavator operator and thanked the government for creating avenues for young people to receive critical skills training.
As is the case with the Agriculture Innovative Entrepreneurial Programme (AIEP), the BIT is a government initiative offering specialized courses to empower young people through skills training thus enabling them to be gainfully employed while also promoting entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, at Black Bush Polder, while handing over two mini excavators to the Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC), Minister Mustapha said that the new equipment will be permanently stationed in the polders to carry out drainage works in the residential areas. He also said that oftentimes machinery is sent to do work following commitments made by officials. Those works, he added, are sometimes incomplete, and the machines are sent to other areas to carry out other works. He also told those in attendance that each excavator would service two polders.
During a meeting at Talorgie, Minister Mustapha while handing over two mini excavators and a long boom excavator said that the two mini excavators will be used to carry out critical drainage works in the residential areas. In contrast, the long boom excavator will be used to clear canals and carry out other drainage works in the cultivation areas. He also said that a work programme will be developed to guide the works and that critical works will be prioritized.
Desilting and other drainage works are expected to commence in the coming week.
Minister Mustapha also encouraged the regional officials to engage the Ministry of Labour so that more young female operators who benefited from skills training offered by BIT could be hired.
