Buying a bag of cement for families of Rivers View in Region 10 once meant a trip to the market and a transportation bill that could climb to $5,000, often surpassing the price of the cement itself. Now, that same bag arrives at their doorstep for around $2,800.
A new village-owned hardware store set up with the village’s 15 per cent grant under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 has made a difference. It runs as a delivery service that brings supplies straight to residents.
“This has been planned through the Village Council, proposed to the community, and all agreed,” said Toshao Gregory Williams.
Apart from cement, the store stocks small but essential items like pipe fittings, hammers and padlocks, among others.
“We try to get every small item that is necessary and needed,” Williams said.
Toshao Williams credited the LCDS grant, which he said turned a long-held community plan into reality.
“We have a vision, but without funds we cannot get it done,” he said. “With the disbursement of the LCDS, with our vision, today we can be better. Our residents and families can be happier.”
Williams thanked President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali and his government for allocating 15 per cent of the total LCDS grant to villages.
“Everything here has been really helpful, and it has been an improvement and a development for our residents,” he said.
Rivers View has also embarked on tourism with a newly constructed four-bedroom guest house.
It is among hundreds of villages implementing money-making projects, such as a hardware store. In fact, close to 3,000 projects have been implemented in Amerindian villages through financing generated from the government’s LCDS 2030.