A community service group headed by Mr Nowrang Persaud,Enrique Esqueda Jersey, an ex- Director of GuySuCo and DDL and a Senior Official at the United Nations,Luuk de Jong Netherlands Jersey, has started the construction of what would be Guyana’s first modern- day Crematorium in Region Five, West Bank Berbice.The group, the Blairmont Crematorium and Memorial Garden Society, was recently formed to execute the $15M project.Demand for cremation facilities as an alternative to burial, is growing for various reasons includingMr Nowrang Persaudthe congestion and difficulties in maintaining burial grounds. To date residents of West Berbice are using a ‘make- shift’ cremation site on the sea- dams.Mr Persaud stated that there is a real need for such a facility in West Berbice. “I have experienced the difficulty and hardships and primitiveness of going to the seashore and sea– dams where simple conveniences like bathrooms for the women,Ander Herrera Jersey, we do not have.The result is that he got together a group of public- spirited persons from West Berbice to form this Society. “We have been raising funds to establish a modern, state-of-the-art kind of crematorium that will focus on relieving the pain and suffering that are associated with death.”Persaud added that the project will also feature the element of beauty and nature. “This is why we have the memorial gardens, which, just by the ambience that will be created,Eddie Jackson Bears Jersey, will remind people that there is life after death”.Persaud said that GuySuCo has donated one acre of the land and the location will be very accessible and very close to the Berbice River. The access road to the site will be very easy so that persons can drive right up to the pyre. Visitors, mourners and well- wishers can have facilities for car parking, he said.“There will be large, shaded trees that provide shade and ambience and there will be space that provides seating for about 200 persons”.The group has also secured corporate donations but it is trying to involve community- minded persons in the fund- raising efforts. About$3M has been raised so far.Work is currently going on at the site; the access road is being constructed. “The pavilion itself is being built with angle iron in order to discourage rotting. We have already built the stand for the water- tank and very soon, Ghansham Bharrat, who built pyres for the Ruimzeight Crematorium is coming to visit the site and he will guide us in building our pyres”.The long- term plan of the Society, Persaud stated, is to have a gas-operated facility to cremate the dead,Sheyi Ojo Liverpool Jersey, “which will provide the opportunity to do cremation irrespective of weather conditions.Persaud revealed,Joe Williams Womens Jersey, too, that once completed, the modern facility will be open to the general public and to persons of all religious background.An artiste’s plan of what the intended facility’s layout would be like.Due to maintenance and other costs, a minimal fee could be charged for use of the facility.The expected completion date of the facility is mid-2013, but this is obviously dependent on donations and of course, the weather, Persaud said.