Georgetown: A cultural centre, a development fund, a deep water harbour, massive investments in sugar, more markets for rice and investments in Information Technology to create jobs and modernise Guyana are some of the key developments on the card for Berbicians.
These plans, aimed at improving the quality of life for every Berbician and Guyanese as a whole, were revealed by President Donald Ramotar at Albion today when he addressed a mammoth crowd, which gathered to hear from him, the incumbent PPP/C’s Presidential Candidate, and others slated to contest the May 11 elections.
“We are on the eve of making history. On May 11, our country will go to the poll, and we want to record the biggest victory ever for the PPP/C, and we have every reason to expect that we will have a massive victory because we stand on a very proud record. Our party fought from the very beginning for the welfare of the people…and now in government we have a very good record and you the people have achieved the most under the PPP/C in Government,” he said.
“We want to create a special development fund for Regions Two and Six to ensure we provide employment for the very brilliant students leaving school now…we will build in this region a cultural centre,” the President added.
The evidence of government’s record include Guyana having the best housing policy in the entire Caribbean, a standard of health care to boast of and many achievements in education. These successeswere recorded after his party inherited a bankrupt country, he added.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank had indicated that Guyana had sunk to a bottomless pit in 1992 and even Finance Minister at that time Carl Greenidge attested to this dire economic state. Greenidge, he said, indicated that the country’s debt was 925 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it took 153 percent of the country’s revenue to repay the debt. “We changed that,” he said, and added that now the debt is only 60 percent of the GDP.
The President said after the elections, his government will continue the efforts to transform Guyana’s economy to a modern one that will see people’s quality of living being improved.
Speaking about sugar, one of the largest sources of employment for Berbicians, President Ramotar acknowledged that “sugar is the grandfather of all the industries in Guyana. Every other industry benefitted from this industry directly and indirectly…but sugar is going through some difficult times.”
He said among the responsible factors is the decision by the European Union (EU) to end the sugar protocol which afforded African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries preferential prices. “The end of the protocol saw Guyana losing more than US$40 million per year, but the resilience and strength of the industry has allowed it to go on, but today it needs to be restructured to be more efficient and viable,” he said.
He also explained that the industry is now plagued by the dearth of skilled labour, as people gravitate to other industries as the economy diversifies “and therefore to compensate for that we have to do more mechanisation in the industry, make the fields more friendly to the machines…we have to retrain our workers and plant more varieties of cane…we also have to do more investments in our factories to make them more efficient.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to ensure sugar survives and people’s jobs remain secure, the President indicated that “sugar has always been close to the heart of the PPP,” and that he has sought financial and technical assistance from India during a recent visit and he has received assurances in this regard.
“I am committing that when we win the elections on May 11, we will invest a minimum of $20 billion over the next five years to ensure that the industry survives…I have every reason to believe that the best days of sugar is still ahead of it, (and)that it has tremendous contributions to make.”
However, government has recognised the need to ensure the industry is flexible and hence, efforts are aimed at producing ethanol for sale so that sugar and ethanol could be produced interchangeably, and the quota of sugar produced could be significantly increased.
“For decades we have been producing raw sugar,” he said, and added that Cheddi Jagan's dream was to diversify, and that dream is being realised with Guysuco and GPL (Guyana Power and Light) teaming up to produce electricity from bagasse. Albion also has the capacity for co-generation…Our goal is not only to produce the raw sugar…we will work towards building a refinery right in this industry. In the meantime we will do more packaging of sugar to export,” he said.
The President said the opposition, led by David Granger in the National Assembly consistently voted against monies for sugar, and now they have made a turn around and are shouting support for sugar.
Speaking about rice, he noted that Government will continue to create an environment conducive to growth, and will continuously explore new markets. He noted that he has already initiated discussions with Panama for new markets. Value added is also key to the success of rice, he said, noting that this has started in Essequibo with the production of the breakfast cereal made from rice.
Significant to Guyana’s development also is Information Communication Technology and a wave of development has begun in this regard. He noted that recently Qualfon (call centre) embarked on a project that will initially create 900 jobs and 6000 jobs later. Several other information centres are also being created in Region Five and Six as well.
The President is also confident that his government will build a deep water harbour in Berbice because of the enormous economic potential therein for Guyana. “One of the most important infrastructure we need to modernise our country and take it forward is a deep water harbour, and as we speak we have people studying to put a deep water harbour right in Berbice…” he said. This will make Guyana a hub for international trade and a gateway for Brazil and the rest of South America.
Such infrastructure will significantly impact the tourism sector, which is on its way in Guyana with recent additions such as the country’s first five-star hotel, the Marriott.
“That facility will allow us to hold more mega conferences in Guyana, to develop tourism, to develop sports tourism because we have now the stadium, the aquatic centre and we just opened the synthetic track, all world class centres.”
He added that a world class indoor sports facility will be opened in Berbice, as well.
These developmental projects are seriously challenged and “the biggest obstacle is the opposition. It shows you the nature of the beast we are dealing with…Over the last three years they have shown what they are…and how dishonest they are, that the elections are here and they are changing their tune…They voted against the welfare of the Guyanese people…,” he said, referring to the opposition's non-support for the Anti-Money Laundering Bill in the National Assembly.
There were several other national projects that did not receive support such as the Cheddi Jagan International Airportexpansion, Amaila Falls Hydro electricity project, the specialty hospital, the AmerindianDevelopmentFund and student loans at the University of Guyana.
Referring to his shortened term in office, as Parliament was prorogued in February and elections called ahead of the 2016 date, the president said those were “very difficult and frustrating years. The opposition tried in every way to block the developmental projects of the country…they want to destroy the economy and that is why they cut $89 billion from the budget. Never one day did the opposition use their one – seat majority to do more for the Guyanese people, tell you to build more schools, roads, bridges or more money in agriculture, they only sought to cut the foundation we have laid over the years,” he said.
He noted that these cuts targeted initiatives aimed at developing the lives of people such as the $10,000 cash grant for each school child and loans for students to attend the University of Guyana.
“When we put it back in it was precisely the time they went to the Parliament with the no – confidence motion…"
He underscored that the upcoming elections are very important because they are about the future of the people.
Speaking about his government’s credibility, as against that of the PNC, the President said, “It’s the same old PNC. We have to look at characters when we look at our leaders in government. We know Elisabeth Harper, We can’t say the same about Nagamootoo [APNU+AFC Prime Ministerial Candidate]…They are trying to fool us. You know what you have you know where we came from you know what we have achieved. The biggest impediment for development in this country has always been the PNC,” he said
He alluded to the women's conference held by the Coalition on Saturday, but reminded thatwhen they presented their listof candidates to the elections commission they came up short in terms of the required number of women that should be on the list.
He said the coalition cannot be trusted because of their obsession with political power instead of policies to develop Guyana.
“A lot is at stake. We can’t afford to be outdone by a coalition. You will remember in 1964 they used a coalition to try to get rid of Cheddi Jagan…When we made the point that they [APNU+AFC] are getting together previously they said we slandered them, before the cock crowed twice them men turned around…The PPP always stood by you through thick and thin, through good times and bad times, the PPP has always been close to you. Today I ask you on May 11 to stand with the PPP/Civic, to stand with me and let us have the biggest victory, the biggest victory in this country.”
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