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GGDMA: State of roads forcing miners to pay double on transportation
…calls on Govt. to speed up repairs
The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) is calling on Government for help on the state of a number of key hinterland roads.
One of the hinterland roads.
The association, in a statement, yesterday, said it is deeply disturbed over the length of time it is taking the government to take action.
“While we do agree that there must be some transparency in the process of awarding the contracts, this must be done in an expeditious manner, not by individuals taking their precious time to review contracts whilst the roads become more and more impassable.”
GGDMA said that the deplorable roads have added down time and increased the operations cost to miners. In fact, some have to pay double to have their fuel and other supplies delivered to their camps.
“Additionally, many of our miners’ trucks and other equipment are being severely damaged due to these roads. This, once again, puts additional financial pressure on the miner as unnecessary maintenance cost. One would believe that sane thinking should be the way forward to ensure that the proper infrastructure is in place for the gold and diamond mining sector which has been the backbone for Guyana’s economy over the past decade.”
But unfortunately, this is far from the case.
According to GGDMA, all that seems to be happening is that the fees and taxes by the Government agencies seem to be increasing with no proper incentives for the miners.
“Miners already have been paying billions of dollars in royalties to the GGMC when they sell their gold and therefore the GGDMA wants to know why some of these monies are not being converted to maintain the integrity of roads leading to the mining areas.”
The association said that the cost of maintaining these roads not properly reflected in the 2017 Budget.
“The GGDMA is calling for greater collaboration between the GGMC, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Ministry of Finance and the Hinterland Infrastructure Committee [HIC] to have better roads available for our miners.”
In light of the above mentioned, the GGDMA said it is questioning whether this is the better life that was promised to the miners, who make tremendous sacrifices and contribute to Guyana’s economy.
“The GGDMA remains steadfast to promote and protect the rights, interest and welfare of all miners.”
Gold was the biggest foreign currency earner for the economy last year.
This year, poor weather has wreaked havoc for miners with difficulties in getting supplies in to camps.
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