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Coalition failed to address shortage of construction aggregate – Min. Bharrat
Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat
Kaieteur News – Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, exposed during yesterday’s budget debates the coalition regime’s failure to effectively address Guyana’s low production of aggregates, which is necessary for the construction sector.
Guyana’s production of aggregates over the last few years has been between 500,000 and 600,000 tonnes. On this premise, the Minister noted that the demand for aggregates last year was 850,000 tonnes, meaning the country was under-producing.
“The APNU realized that and instead of boosting production, instead of giving licences to (persons) who have the capacity and resources, what did they do? They import aggregates using foreign currency, which they were not generating, to import aggregates when they could have boosted local production and create employment. Instead, what they did was to import aggregate and add VAT to it,” the Minister stated.
In five years, the Minister pointed out that only three quarry licences were issued by the Coalition, one of which never produced anything. Nevertheless, the Natural Resources Minister said the PPP/C Administration removed VAT on aggregates to help the construction sector. The Minister was keen to note that aggregates are an essential part of construction, while adding that Guyana is set for a massive infrastructural boom over the next five years.
He said, too, that the Government has committed to allocating 50,000 house lots in five years, on an average of 10,000 per year. Additionally, he said that several major hotel chains have signalled their intention to set up in Guyana, with the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, the Radisson Hotels, and the Hilton Hotels and Resorts, among those interested. Memorandums of Understanding have already been signed for those investments.
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