Private Sector will be adequately consulted for local content legislation

Private Sector will be adequately consulted for local content legislation – PSC Chair

Oct 08, 2020 News

Kaieteur News – Chair of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, assures that the private sector will be consulted adequately for the upcoming legislation for local content.

PSC Chair and GCCI Chair, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer

GMSA President and Chair of local content advisory panel, Shyam Nokta.

Appearing on Kaieteur Radio’s Petroleum 101 on Tuesday, Deygoo-Boyer said that he has been in contact with the Government-appointed Chair of the local content advisory panel, Shyam Nokta.
Deygoo-Boyer was responding to concerns that the private sector did not have enough representation on the panel. With six members on the panel, Nokta is the only private business service leader. He heads the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA).
Senior Vice President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Timothy Tucker, had said in September that there needed to be representatives from more business service organizations on the panel.
Deygoo-Boyer said that he has confidence in the panel to deliver, and that it doesn’t matter whether he sits on the panel, once its output considered the voices of leaders in the sector. He said too that he has a relationship with Nokta, with whom he will liaise to make sure the various business service organizations are heard. Deygoo-Boyer is President of the GCCI. As Chair of the PSC, he is well connected with other business service organizations.
“I’m expected,” Deygoo-Boyer said, “to marshal the troops of all the business service organizations who I sit down cross table with to get their feedback. So, that consultation process is going to happen.”
“I’m not going to go soft on the panel,” he said.
The National Hardware owner said that while he is not particularly concerned about the panel’s ability to deliver, he will not shirk the responsibility of representing the interest of Guyanese businesses, so the panel understands that they must capture as much value as they can.
The recommendations of the private sector were largely ignored in the current local content policy, according to President of Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC), Maniram Prashad.
The government has committed to reviewing and building the capacity of Guyana’s regulatory framework, including updating and introducing legislation. Another of the City Chamber’s former Presidents, Deodat Indar, had advocated for local content legislation, and the Chamber had even demonstrated that it could easily be done by releasing its own draft local content legislation. Deodat is now Minister of Public Works.

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