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Dawdling over meaningful projects

Dec 15, 2012 Editorial

 

 

Governments always talk about having the interest of people at heart. Whenever they undertake a development project they say that they are acting in the interest of the nation. The Guyana Government is no different. It has undertaken a host of projects all designed to move the country forward and to give the people a better life.
But some of these projects are undertaken at such a slow pace that one must ask whether the government actually is keen about development. For example, there is the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project. Everyone knows that hydroelectricity is crucial to this country which spends a significant portion of its earnings on fuel.
And most of this fuel goes to provide electricity which is crucial to every aspect of development. In fact, when the power sector was faced with collapse, many industries actually cut back on production because there was just not enough power to maintain the operation. The result is that collapse threatened until they resorted to self-generation.
Today, with fossil fuel becoming increasingly expensive the cost of production is also getting higher thus making local products less competitive. However, the government failed to recognize the importance of the Amaila Falls project because despite all the signposts, it went ahead and awarded the road construction contract to a man who was certainly no road contractor. US$15.4 million went down the drain.
But that project is not the only one that is crucial but on which the government declined to place the requisite emphasis. Another is the road link between coastal Guyana and Brazil, one of the industrial giants and the country with the fifth largest economy.
This road was first mooted more than sixty years ago. There was an offer from Ford Motors to build the road on the condition that only Ford vehicles traverse it. Needless to say the then colonial government tossed the idea aside. Since then there have been numerous attempts to have the road constructed. The government planned safaris along the trail that existed. A few years ago the government actually opened an all-weather road which serves as the link to the southernmost part of the country. Today, vehicles other than the trucks actually use the road which has become a major communication link between Georgetown and Lethem.
With that temporary communication link every major business in coastal Guyana has moved to establish large branches in Lethem. The aim is to take advantage of the markets Brazil offers. Banks DIH has been attempting to enter the markets in those Brazilian communities close to Guyana for some time with limited success.
Similarly, there are those companies that offer services that would certainly make life for those in the border towns excited.  The Private Sector Commission has said that the industrial zone created by the government is all but taken over by Guyanese companies. All of them are waiting on the government to either construct or accept an offer to have a proper road constructed.
After all these years the government is dawdling perhaps lulled into a false sense of confidence. It is of the opinion that come what may the Brazilians would facilitate the construction of the road but this is not the case. Suriname is now lobbying the Brazilians because it is offering the deep water harbor that the Brazilians want.
Guyana had been talking about a deep water harbor for years and indeed, all it has done is talk. Not so long ago it discussed the idea with the Chinese but with the Chinese already involved in so many projects in Guyana the government may be feeling the edge of the coin. It does not want to overspend. But failure to construct the deep water harbor and attract the road from Brazil could be costly for generations to come.
Surely, the government would not want to be cursed by generations yet unborn for stalling the economic take off of this country. The road must be a reality. The deep water harbor which has been in the offing for nearly four decades must also be a reality.
In years to come we may condemn some of the constructions now being undertaken and with perfect hindsight may question why there is not the road to Brazil even as people saunter into the Marriott and the Skeldon sugar factory fails to achieve its potential.

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