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IN WHOSE INTERESTS?

Nov 04, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Ever since it was announced that airstrips were going to be established in Leguan and Wakenaam, there have been questions about whose interests these runways will serve.
The people have been told that it will serve their interests because in case of the need for a medical evacuation, a plane can land in these areas and evacuate the sick.
But just how many persons are going to get sick and if for every possibility of having to evacuate someone, an airstrip needs to be built, then there is a need for a great many airstrips for small planes in Guyana.
Obviously, the people where the airstrips are going to be built are not amused. Most of them can hardly afford the cost of traveling by plane from their area to the nearest airstrip.
Most of them probably do not see the need for these airstrips because just how many persons get terminally sick to the extent that they need to medically evacuated.
The real reason for these airstrips is infrastructure promotion for the private sector. These airstrips are not about the poor and working people.
They are about providing support for those who are seen as the “engines of growth”: the private sector. And this is a legitimate function of Government to assist businesses. It happens in America and it happens here, especially here.
The airstrips that are going to be built in these islands are long-term infrastructure investments for the local aircraft industry. This industry needs to expand its routes and therefore planes need to be able to land in areas where they previously were not able to do so.
But the local aircraft industry is not going to invest in building runways throughout the country. Infrastructure investment is costly and if the local aircraft industry had to factor the infrastructure costs into their operations, they would be broke overnight.
So it is the government that has to provide this infrastructure in the same way that it has to provide the non- remunerative infrastructure for the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Power Station. And of course the costs of these infrastructure has to be borne by the government.
So why does the government continue to insist that the airstrips are for the people? Simple. This is the only way they can justify spending the millions which need to be spent to facilitate these investments.
The government will end up spending about sixty million dollars on one of these airstrips.
So how does it justify that sort of benefit to the private sector? It cannot unless it can show how the investments will benefit the people and so we are told that flights will now be able to land in Leguan and Wakenaam, which are both under populated at the moment.
The airstrips that will eventually be built will support the local aviation industry which is now charging close to $50,000 for a two-way flight to Lethem. Now which poor person can afford to take a flight to Lethem at that cost?
The 275 dismissed workers of Barama are each receiving a $25,000 per month stipend for three months. This works out to a mere $20M for the three months.
The cost of surfacing one of the many airstrips that are going to be built in the Essequibo islands is going to be far more than the collective cost of the three month stipend for the dismissed Barama workers.
The same aviation sector scored big a few months ago when the government negotiated with Venezuela for cheaper aviation fuel. We are told it could end up costing fifty per cent less. So why are the airfares still so high to Lethem and who really benefits from this cheap aviation fuel?
Who benefits? Of course we are going to be told that it is the people who will benefit from cheaper transportation? But how many of the farmers in Wakenaam or Leguan can afford to charter a plane or even afford a seat of travel by plane from their island to the city?
This is why whenever something is done by the government it has to be asked in whose interest it is done. Is it the workers interest or the big boys who have friends in the right places and friends who are always willing to lend a little help in the name of private sector development.

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