These projects have set Guyana backwards
December 21, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source - Kaieteur News
The PPP has a point. The opposition has setback the development of the country by about five years by their obstructionist policies.
The opposition parties have nixed important developmental initiatives being undertaken by the PPP as part of its modernization drive. The first of these is the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project. The investors walked after they were not assured of opposition support. The political risk was too great and so the investors issued an ultimatum: either all parties were on board or they would walk. APNU was concerned about the financial architecture and the AFC was waiting on some IDB report. In the end, the investors walked.
The second is the extension of the Timehri Airport. The opposition is not convinced about this project. Many others are also not convinced that we should be going this route.
The PPP will argue that time and the world will not wait for them, and therefore the loss of time in relation to these projects would have seriously hurt Guyana’s developmental prospects. The government will also point to budget cuts and non-approval by the opposition parties as a method used to frustrate the government’s development plans. The government has a point.
But if you examine the Jagdeo regime closely, if you go beyond the appearances, you will discover that the deals that were made under that administration have set Guyana back far more than the opposition’s antics during the 10th Parliament.
The largest public investment made in Guyana was the Skeldon Sugar Factory. This was supposed to be the investment that would have saved the sugar industry. It was supposed to concentrate sugar production at Skeldon and reduce the cost of production. The factory is still limping along. It has encountered major mechanical defects. Fixing it seems something like high science, because it is taking a very long time to fix these defects. And of course the fixing is costing the corporation a fortune.
The taxpayers of this country are now burdened with a colossal debt because of the construction of this factory, which is not helping Guysuco’s competitiveness. This translates to a wasted investment and one that has now saddled future generations of Guyana with an onerous debt burden. That failed investment alone has put the county back fifteen years and has permanently harmed the viability of the sugar industry.
Another factory was built along the East Coast to package sugar for export. At one stage it was being suggested that there was not enough sugar to keep the factory running. This was another massive investment and has set Guyana back because of its underperformance.
There were concerns over the cost of this project. This newspaper even offered to pay for someone to undertake an audit of the cost of the factory. The offer was predictably refused by the government.
Then there was the road contract to Amaila that was handed to someone with no known experience in even building such roads. The man was given a fifteen million US-dollar contract and then let go. The final cost of the project is now expected to exceed three times that price. This is money that could have been deployed otherwise to benefit the Guyanese people.
Guyana is building the road with no prospects that the hydroelectric plant will materialize. And now that oil prices have dipped, it is doubtful whether Guyana can even go ahead with the original terms. So what happens to the road built with taxpayers’ monies?
The Marriott Hotel is another project in which billions of taxpayers’ dollars have been pumped. Many knowledgeable persons are predicting that this hotel will become a white elephant. In fact, this hotel is now almost complete, but the equity investors are not yet on board. This must be the first of its kind in the world.
All of these plans made under the Jagdeo regime have set Guyana backwards. Far more than anything the opposition has done in the National Assembly.
Source - http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....et-guyana-backwards/