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Establish central unit to manage critical public projects – GSDS Vision 2040
Government must strengthen its ability to design, procure, manage and evaluate large investment projects if it is to successfully implement the Green State Development Strategy: Vision 2040.
The strengthening of that capacity requires the establishment of a ‘delivery unit for the design and management of critical projects’.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that by 2023, oil production could reach 250,000 barrels per day; public revenue from oil exports could exceed $160B (more than half of Guyana’s 2019 budget).
But the strategy states “International experience shows that natural resource wealth does not necessarily lead to broad-based improvements in development…”
In some cases, it warns that newfound wealth could introduce damaging volatility to fiscal revenue and economic performance. It lists Trinidad and Venezuela as illustrations of the risk of windfall resource wealth.
It states that such a large expenditure programme needs advanced capacity to plan, procure and manage large projects since, with those projects, it is difficult for small governments to accurately assess the ability of contractors and ensure fiduciary responsibility.
The strategy notes that, in the short term, government would be better off seeking the services of large-scale project management firms to alleviate pressure for the short-to-medium term stages of GSDS implementation.
In the longer term, it is expected that there will be the opportunity to strengthen the Work Services Group (WSG). The Works Services Group (WSG) is a body operating under the purview of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI), and was established in 2002 under donor impetus by merging series of project implementation units in order to manage donor-funded roads and bridges. The strategy recommends that to strengthen its capacity, the MoPI should consider, among other things, the market competitiveness of current compensation packages for persons who serve the group.
The strategy states that, optimally, the delivery unit could be established under the Ministry of the Presidency, to monitor adherence to planned priorities, as well as governance and transparency standards.
Several governments, such as the United Kingdom, use the delivery unit as a way to strengthen the coordination and implementation of strategies across sectors, as opposed to having each public agency carry out separate mandates that are less coordinated.
The recommendation of a delivery unit falls under Development Objective A of the strategy – Sound Fiscal and Monetary Policy.
The GSDS: Vision 2040 Fiscal and Monetary Policy is expected to help government transparently manage oil wealth, channel it into productive public investments, and provide citizens and businesses with confidence that prices will remain stable in the long term.
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