Govt. to receive $1.2M annually from leased Morawhanna facility

Oct 22, 2009 News

---

…subject to annual review

By Gary Eleazar
Under the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed with Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Caribbean of Trinidad, Irvin Garroway, the Government of Guyana will be paid some $100,000 per month as rental for the Morawhanna Facility.
This sum however, is subject to an annual review.
Garroway, under the lease arrangement, will be engaged in the production of electricity, the production, storage and sale of ice; fuel storage and dispensing for sale of petroleum products; administrative offices and a slipway among others.
Garroway will also use the facility to facilitate the purchase, storage and processing of a number of agriculture products, handicrafts, lumber and other products made in Guyana for export.
As it relates to rates and taxes among other bills to be paid, these will have to be assumed Garroway.
The wharf and docking facilities at Port Morawhanna, however, are not included in the lease but under the agreement Garroway has been appointed Operator/Manager of the Wharf and docking facilities. As such the schedule of fees as may be agreed by Government and Garroway from time to time shall be applied.
Garroway, as manager, will have to maintain a separate account of revenues and expenditures relating to the wharf and docking facilities and shall submit same on a monthly basis to the government.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud has voiced his concern that ever since taking over the facility at least a month ago Garroway is yet to commence any thing that he set out in the agreement.
During a visit to the facility on Tuesday last, Persaud stated that the delay is detrimental to the livelihood of the people that depend on the facility.
At present, the fisher folk have been most heavily hit by the non-functioning of the facility, given that it produced ice, which is required by them to ply their trade.
Persaud visited the port after receiving reports that it was not functioning in its capacity as an ice processing plant, a situation that is detrimental to the fishing industry in the Region
The Agriculture Minister said that they had put up the facility for private management given that they could not afford to maintain the facility and the investor would have paid rental.
According to Persaud, Garroway was the only forthcoming investor.
He noted that Government is investing a lot in Region One and as such is eager to have the facility up and running and that a clear timeline is needed from the investors. Government is set to benefit from the rental of the facility. Persaud pointed out that the provisions for rental are dependent on the scale of the investment.
The port has been declared a port of entry and the necessary requirements such as customs will soon be in place but to date none of the upgrading work has been put in place.
According to Persaud CARICOM member states have indicated an interest in the acquisition of the produce from Region One.
For several years the idea of having produce from region shipped directly to CARICOM states among others has been mooted but this is yet to be realised.
This newspaper understands that the only business conducted by the Trinidadian was the sale of fuel from a vessel that he had moored at the Morawhanna wharf. He was reportedly selling the fuel for some $22,000 per drum.
During Tuesday’s visit by the Minister the facility was observed to be effectively non functional and in a dire state of disrepair but its importance to the region is fuelling the desire to have it renovated and running to full capacity.
Morawhanna is a small fishing/farming community in the Barima River in Region One, close to the Venezuelan border. Its residents are currently of the view that they have been abandoned.
One reason is the fact that the fishing complex that provided the several fishermen from neighbouring communities with a facility to preserve their catch so that they can be transported to far-flung areas such as Port Kaituma, is no longer operational and the promise of new Trinidadian ownership now seems elusive.
The complex has been closed for several months now and no change is in sight, according to one of the residents. According to Persaud, the plan is to make that point a key Caribbean agriculture export port and food processing facility.
“Getting this facility up and running is part of the strategic plan for agriculture development in Region One,” according to Persaud.
Recently, when this publication, visited the locale, one resident had said “it is as if Morawhanna is the village that the administration forgot.
The complex had provided desperately needed employment for several in the village plus the spin-off benefit of persons mooring at the complex to conduct business at the few shops that exist.

---

---