Norton promises to open up lands in highland areas

Two key areas of focus in A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) infrastructural development plan will entail improved road networks as well as the opening of new lands within the country’s highland areas.

This is according to leader of the partnership and presidential hopeful, Aubrey Norton, as he divulged some of the party’s plans should they win the 2025 General and Regional Elections. The party will officially hop on the campaign trail this Sunday with a launch at the Square of the Revolution, this time without its running mate, the Alliance for Change (AFC).

During an interview on Context, which was aired on the party’s Facebook page, Norton detailed intentions to revamp the transportation system while paying keen attention to the country’s traffic situation.

He said that there is a need for a proper infrastructure development plan where roads are built with traffic management and efficiency in mind. He pointed out, for example, the inconvenience posed by the fairly new Hero’s Highway where persons face “impediments” when getting out of their communities since there is no easy access to merge onto the highway. He suggested that movement around the country in general remains fairly expensive and difficult.

“We need to relook at transportation and ensure that we have a much better system of transportation across the country to facilitate the easy and cheap movement of people and goods. So this infrastructure development plan will be critical.”

Norton added that the APNU’s infrastructural plan will also cater for the opening of new land within the country. In particular, to combat challenges posed by climate change, Norton said that the party will consider inland locations instead of focusing projects primarily on low-lying, vulnerable coastal areas.

“We believe there are a lot of highlands between Soesdyke and Lethem… Linden and Kwakwani, and we should be opening these areas. A lot of those will impact regions because we have to have areas for housing, industrial sites; but you cannot continue to put them in areas that are vulnerable. So our infrastructure development programme will focus on that.”

Norton reiterated the need to ensure that people are well served with all the construction and infrastructural projects being undertaken in the country. He said that the transportation of people and goods, as well as the opening of new lands, are economic moves that directly and positively impact citizens.