GUYANA LOSES BIG TIME

Apr 22, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Brazil hosts the 2014 FIFA World Cup in two months’ time. Tens of thousands of tourists from all over the world are going to make the long commute to Brazil for this event.
Persons will be travelling from all of the continents to Brazil. As a consequence they will have to transit through other countries’ airports to reach the various cities in Brazil that are hosting the World Cup.
Guess which airport will handle the most travelers? Miami International Airport!
According to the Miami Herald, the Miami International Airport is readying itself for an invasion of some 50,000 transit passengers en route to Brazil. Miami will become the biggest beneficiary of tourism dollars outside of Brazil because of the World Cup.
It could have been Guyana. However, we cannot even secure a residual benefit because for the past two years, financing for the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport has been voted down in the National Assembly. The hurtful part of it all is that China was providing the financing for the project.
Ok, accepted that even if the funds were approved by parliament, the works would not have been completed in time. But what about in two years’ time when Brazil hosts the Olympics?
Then it is not just fifty thousand travelers that are expected to attend those games but more like one million travelers.
If ten per cent of that number opts to transit through Guyana and if they each spend on average one hundred Guyana dollars, we are talking about ten million United States Dollars earned for a one month period.
That will be a massive gain for our country and a big boost for tourism because any traveler passing through a country harbors the thought of seeing a little bit more of it.
If the experience is enjoyable that passenger will tell friends and relatives of the experience. There will be an exponential gain in travelers just by becoming a hub for transit passengers.
Sadly, with the airport project not being approved by the opposition parties, Guyana has little hope of capitalizing on the massive influx of travelers that will be head to Brazil within the next two years.
Will Miami International Airport again be the major beneficiary? No doubt it will benefit. But Guyana’s loss is likely to be Suriname’s gain. While opposition parties are practising slash and burn tactics in the National Assembly, cutting critical investments being financed by China, Suriname is forging ahead with US$6 Billion in mega projects with China.
Suriname is constructing both a road and a railway to Brazil and this will allow it to benefit tremendously from the influx of travelers that will be seeking adventure, fun and alternative ways of getting to Brasilia for the Olympics in 2016.
Guyana will lose out because the opposition parties want the country to continue with its small one terminal airport where arriving passengers have to disembark onto the tarmac and walk into the terminal.
Guyana could have been the hub for at least one hundred thousand travelers transiting to Brazil for the 2016 Olympics, but we will not be ready because of the shenanigans of the parliamentary opposition parties.
This is a clear example of development being strangled by the opposition. The opposition will however contend- and they should be believed- that it is not their intention to curtail development.
They will defend their non approval of the airport expansion project on the grounds that they have fears that the monies for the airport will end up in the hands of corrupt Government politicians.
But if transparency and accountability are the issue here why deal such a severe blow to the project? Why not instead of withholding funding did the opposition parties not demand an arrangement whereby the financing and implementation of the project be audited by a reputable international firm? Why threaten this project simply over suspicions that monies will be pilfered from the project?
This is a reckless approach that is being undertaken by the opposition parties. It hurts Guyana’s future prospects. The opposition parties have found themselves in this position because they are in part taking advice from the wrong persons, individuals who have grouses and who wish to hurt the government for personal slights.
The opposition parties must see themselves as a potential government in waiting. They should not frown on any project that is for the benefit of the country.
At the moment there is an obsession with the government, paranoia about elements within the government enriching themselves at the public trough.
The way to address this concern is not to stifle development but to work towards greater transparency and accountability. Transparency and accountability will not be had by cutting financing and therefore forcing Guyana to miss important opportunities in the global market place. The better approach is to negotiate mechanisms that will account for every cent spent.
The opposition has however slammed that door shut and prefers instead a scorched earth policy.