The Linden Mayor and Town Council has secured approval for an $18 million grant and is ready to be uplifted, despite significant delays in submitting its work plan to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.
This was clarified by Minister Sonia Parag on Thursday during an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI).
“The town clerk [of Linden] was informed that an $18 million grant would be given to the municipality. That $18 million cheque is to be uplifted and it is already being processed through the Ministry of Finance,” he said.
Linden’s Town Clerk, Lennox Gasper told DPI that he was informed of the grant’s readiness approximately a month ago and committed to uplifting the cheque in the new week.
Minister Parag stated that the ministry asked the municipality to revise a portion of its work plan since it did not substantially benefit the people of Region 10.
“They wanted a minibus and a truck. We asked them to put a work plan in place that would be more beneficial to the community. The ministry decided that we will give them the grant, notwithstanding the delay,” she stressed.
Minister Parag also pointed out that the ministry has been significantly supporting the region, through the procurement of a mini-excavator and the employment of several Community Infrastructure Improvement Project (CIIP) workers.
“We ensured that Region 10 was given a mini-excavator. We also placed 15 CIIP workers in Linden to assist the municipality with the enhancement of the town, which they didn’t previously have,” the local government minister explained.
Additionally, Minister Parag highlighted that the remaining amount of subvention for the Georgetown Mayor and City Council is also ready, and is expected to be uplifted on Friday.
During the ministry’s end-of-year press conference on Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Minister Parag clarified that all 70 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) received their subventions, while several municipalities have already uplifted all or part of their grant or subventions for 2024.
This amounts to more than $1 billion being budgeted to support these local democratic institutions.
“The subvention allocations have increased by 117 per cent since 2020. The subventions in 2020 were $460 million and in 2024 it was $1 billion. This money was used to support the maintenance of drainage networks, bridges, rehabilitation of community buildings, minor road repairs, and the installation of streetlights among other things,” the local government minister recounted.
Minister Parag posited that there has been no bias or discrimination towards any entity during the disbursement of these funds to the various elected bodies.
This is exemplified by the disbursements made to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council and other local democratic organs controlled by the APNU+AFC.
