…says project will also provide jobs for unemployed youths
A $2B revetment programme is being proposed for the mining town of Linden, Region Ten. According to Mayor of Linden Carwyn Holland, such a programme is needed due to the effects of climate change on the town.
The Linden Mayor noted that there was once a time when Linden was considered to be a safe zone from changing weather patterns. However, he pointed out that recently, climate change effects have been taking a toll on the town’s infrastructure. The revetment programme is one way that the council is looking to remedy the situation.
“You have many, many houses that are on the verge of falling. A lot of them as well because of the erosion, some of them you can see their entire foundation is exposed as a result of the sand and so on, washed away from their buildings and these buildings are on the hills…This calls for massive revetment programme…We need to get that going now” he told the Department of Public Information.
Mayor Holland added that the project document is being crafted so that it can be sent to Cabinet for assessment. Once given the go-ahead, the programme, according to Holland will achieve two objectives. First, to create a safe environment for residents and secondly, provide jobs for youths residing in the town.
The Mayor explained that “it will provide jobs for the hundreds of young people, young men that we have here in Linden who are living in those very valleys and alleys who are not working. They are unemployed and through the revetment programme you can have many persons gainfully employed and as a result, government and Guyana by extension will be protecting and saving lives due to these changing weather patterns.”
Freak storms are becoming more common, and several have struck Linden in the last month. One storm recently swept through the Wismar Housing Scheme and neighbouring communities, leaving several houses without roofs, uprooting utility poles and trees, and in some cases, resulting in millions of dollars in losses.
