Guyana: The President of Guyana – Irfaan Ali, stated that Guyana could be considered a model in the Caribbean region as the nation successfully urbanised due to our policy framework and deliberate planning. He added that structured systems are essential in long-term solutions.
Addressing the participants of the Caribbean Urban Forum’s – CUF, 10th International conference that a sustainable path to urbanisation is the more so since urbanisation remains an essential challenge for the Caribbean region.
The President added, “How we respond to urbanisation would undoubtedly determine the quality of life of our residents and if we accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals – SDG. Therefore, there must be a common path through which urbanisation follows the achievement of the SDGs.”
He further noted that Guyana had recorded a constant decline in the ratio of urban population to the total population over 19 years from 1992 (29.4 per cent) to 2011 (26.4 per cent).
Further providing instance, the President added that “We have been successful in marking urbanisation. However, the convenient statistics show that the level of urbanisation constantly reduced between the year 1992 and 2011.
“Our success rate during this duration was by no means random but was due to voluntary efforts by the Guyana government to start on an aggressive housing programme, where over 100,000 house numbers were distributed, and many housing schemes were developed as new growth poles,” he added.
The President noted the national policies (explained in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) I & II) were supported with financial assistance from the government of Guyana between 1992 and 2015, and were also enhanced by a manual operation for housing that highlighted all the critical dimensions of sustainable development, including – social development, economic development, environmental preservation and good governance.
The President further noted that Guyana not only observed a decrease in rural-urban migration and the lowering of its urban footprints between the years – 1992 and 2015 but witnessed accelerated growth in rural areas.
Ramanjot Kaur is a dedicated journalist with a Master’s in Journalism and Mass Communication, specializing in economic and political news reporting with incisive analysis and integrity.
