Minister Gaskin has created a lasting legacy

May 12, 2019 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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The Alliance For Change congratulates Member of Parliament and Chairman of the party’s Regional Management Committee for Region 2, Haimraj Rajkumar on being appointed Minister of Business. He has replaced the party’s Treasurer, Dominic Gaskin, who became a Parliamentarian in 2011 and then Minister of Business from May 2015 to April 2019.
The AFC is grateful for the stellar service given by Mr. Gaskin and we do look forward to his continued engagement in the development of Guyana.
Leader of the party, Raphael Trotman, highly commended his fellow believer in one united Guyana, while highlighting the many successful initiatives Gaskin led as Minister of Business. One of his larger projects has been the Lethem Industrial Estate which today is nearing completion, scheduled for the third quarter of this year.
The Lethem Industrial estate is going to serve as a business incubator, a home for start-up businesses not only in Region 9, but anywhere else in and outside of Guyana. It will also provide the facilities for trade and marketing networks in a large variety of enterprises, from manufacturing to hospitality, ICT, Health and even education services.
One of the Government’s big expectations is the Lethem estate will make it easier for Guyanese businessmen and women to partner with their counterparts in Brazil, especially in Roraima, Para, Boa Vista and Amazonas states.
We recall that around 2011, a Brazilian contingent of business owners and business support organizations came to Guyana to meet with their counterparts here and further discussions that had already started about using Guyana’s network of roads and rivers to transport Brazilian goods like soya beans to Port Georgetown. You see, the distance between the Takutu Bridge and Georgetown is much less than the distance between their states in the north and the Brazilian Atlantic coast.
The business owners calculate that it would cost them much less in fees, time and transportation logistics if they constructed silos and warehouses in Lethem and surrounding communities to store their grain and even industrial equipment before transporting them by road and river to Port Georgetown, and on to ocean-going vessels.
Of course, the proposals then would have brought a whole lot of benefits for Guyana. The Brazilian state governments were prepared to resurface/pave the Lethem-Linden corridor and other secondary roads. They were going to help fund hydropower plants at several of Guyana’s waterfalls, transport some of the power to Brazil while Guyana was required to put in the infrastructure to transport and distribute the remaining megawatts of power throughout the Hinterland all the way to the city.
Some of the Brazilian business owners who came with the visiting contingent in 2011 were interested in direct investments in Guyana … and they still are. They saw that our soil is very rich and today they are still interested in planting corn, soya and other beans, rearing cattle, and planting the species of trees that are most suitable for making paper in Guyana’s hinterland savannahs.
Guyanese farmers, especially in the poultry industry, have already received some input from their Brazilian counterparts and these trading relationships are expected to grow.
For no reason we could figure out, these generous offers from the Brazilian government were turned down by the previous government, and not too long after, the Federative Republic of Brazil fell into a recession. Today that fire is lit again. This Industrial Estate is definitely going to develop the business environment in the middle Rupununi plus enhance economic cooperation between Guyana and Brazil.
Employment opportunities will open up for residents of the communities in Central and Northern Rupununi. Tourism and all the spin-off services like guiding, boating, caiman spotting, and trekking through our rainforests in search of wild plants that international pharmacists and makers of cosmetics pay millions for, should blossom. Think about the range of services that our people will be offering. Think about the possibilities that this incubator is providing for the development of a labelling and packaging industry in Guyana.
Actually, the idea of an Industrial Estate in Lethem was raised since 2004 but not much was done, except a half-hearted effort to revive the old plan while the Brazilian contingent was visiting in 2011. It wasn’t until 2015 that this government drew up a viable plan for this huge industrial estate.
Leaders in the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce said, “We applaud Minister (Dominic) Gaskin’s determination to develop this modern, functional industrial location … we stand by his vision to develop within the estate, an area that will help the environment, an initiative that is in keeping with the Green State Development Strategy…”.
Regional Chairman, Brian Allicock said, “I must commend Minister Gaskin and team for getting to this level. We are looking up in business in this region, and we have lots of businessmen willing to help us develop this region and the country, from Brazil. This project will be of benefit to us. I am so happy to see once again this kind of development taking place in this region and once we work together, we can. I must thank the Government of Guyana and we will continue to work together”.
The Lethem Industrial Estate is located at Bon Success on the right bank of the Takutu River in Region 9, and it occupies about 70 acres of land. More than $1Billion has been spent so far, and before he demitted office, Mr. Gaskin had said that an additional $500 Million was needed to complete and open the Industrial estate for business.
The AFC takes this opportunity to extend a hearty welcome to our new Minister of Business, Hon. Haimraj Bernard Rajkumar. He has been a practising attorney on the Essequibo Coast for 12 years, having graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School and being admitted to the Guyana Bar (2007). He has accumulated a broad range of experience in the private business sector since he acquired university diplomas in Marketing and Pharmacy, and actually worked as a Pharmacist for more than 15 years.

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