Berbice: Head of State Donald Ramotar announced to Berbicians that Guyana is to soon join the ranks of the oil and gas producing countries. He was speaking at the launch of the Atlantic Reader Series at the Port Mourant Primary School. “We have to prepare our country for what is ahead of us,” he told those gathered at the event.
“We cannot stand still,” he said. “We can never be content with what we have, because standing still is to be left behind in a rapidly changing world. We have no choice but to go ahead.”
Preparations for the future, he said, include cheap energy, which, for Guyana, means the fructification of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP).
Slated to be this nation’s most ambitious undertaking ever, the hydropower project is touted to be able to provide Guyanese with a cheaper, much more reliable and sustainable source of electricity. It involves the construction of a hydropower plant in the area of West-Central Guyana, where the Amaila and Kuribrong Rivers meet.
Electricity produced there would be transmitted to Georgetown, and Guyana’s second largest town, Linden. The AFHP is anticipated to result in substantial savings to the nation’s coffers, particularly in terms of foreign exchange and the purchase of heavy fuel oil.
The allocation of $1.3B for the provision of the Amaila Project Access Road and related infrastructure was effectively given the green light from the Parliamentary Committee of Supply in its review of the Ministry of Public Works’ 2014 budgetary allocation, in April last year.
President Ramotar made it clear that his Government, as well as successive PPP/C administrations, has pushed the development of Guyana, from a strategic standpoint.
He cited the initiatives in the various sectors that have complementing impacts as evidence of his Government’s employment of strategic development approaches.
According to him, the establishment of technical institutes position young Guyanese to access opportunities in a more rapidly developing manufacturing sector, once ‘Amaila’ comes on stream, while investments in the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project complements the investments in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) projects.
“It’s the combination of all the measures we are using that has allowed us to be at the top; we have very important developments in our country,” he said.
The President made it clear that the bottom line has always been to ensure that all Guyanese, youths in particular, are positioned in a manner that is advantageous to their future endeavours.
“The bottom line is the development of our people,” he said, adding that every citizen has equal opportunities to reach their full potential.
You must be logged in to post a comment.