Wanica district

Wanica is the smallest district in Surinam, delimiting the East with the South River and Paramaribo, to the west with the Saramacca district, to the north with Paramaribo and to the south with Para.

With a population of 85,986 inhabitants, and an extension of just 443 km², Wanica is the second most densely populated district in the country, as well as the most urbanized.

The capital of the district, formerly called Kofi-Djompo, received its current name in 1905 in honor of the Dutch architect Cornelis Lely, who was in charge of carrying out several large-scale projects in the Netherlands.

LELYDORP is the second most populous city in Surinam, and also the second most important, with more than 80,000 people this city limits with the capital, Paramaribo.

ECONOMY

In 1968 a new penitentiary center was built in Santoboma, replacing the existing one to date in Fort Zeelandia. Currently, this center is still operational.

The famous Santoboma Agricultural Project took place in the 1960s, with the purpose of providing small plots for the cultivation of fruit trees. Although the project did not have the expected success, these small crops suppose the subsistence means of most of the population.

Administrative division

Wanica is subdivided into seven resorts:

• De Nieuwe Grond
• Domburg
• Houttuin
• Koewarasan
• Kwatta
• Lelydorp
• Saramacca Polder