Residents from villages across Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) are being trained to operate heavy-duty equipment.

The aim is for communities to rehabilitate and maintain their own roads, rather than wait for contractors from the coast.

The first batch of trainees began the programme this week at the Ministry of Public Works’ stockpile site at Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD).

They are learning to operate rollers, skid steers and other compaction equipment.

Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Mandalall Ramraj, visited the site on Thursday and interacted with trainees from various Region Eight villages.

Head of the ministry’s Special Projects Unit Colin Gittens said the government bought the equipment for Region Eight’s road rehabilitation and maintenance programme.

The training is the second phase of that investment.

“Normally before, we used to have contractors going to the region and executing the rehabilitation and maintenance work, but the initiative of the government now is to have the villages work and execute their work by themselves,” Gittens explained.

The villages were grouped into clusters, and trainees were selected from each cluster together with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC).

Three batches will be trained.

The first batch spent two days in the classroom and will spend Wednesday to Friday in practical sessions.

After that, specialists from the Special Projects Unit will work with the trainees in their villages.

They will put their training into practice and learn road maintenance and rehabilitation techniques.

Gittens said the programme is part of the government’s wider push to develop inland communities, “not only development in terms of infrastructure, but also development in terms of human resources.”

He noted that bringing crews from the coast or Region Nine up into the mountains is slow and expensive.

Using village residents and locally based equipment is expected to lower those costs.

Trainee Fergal Bennett of Taruka Village said this is the first time residents have received training on heavy-duty machines.

He believes the skills will help link villages and improve access across the region.

“We could execute our work by ourselves in our villages as we return to our communities, so that we could link our roads to other villages,” Bennett said.

He thanked the government and the Ministry of Public Works for the programme and said he hopes all the trainees will return home with a new opportunity.