$2.2B to rebuild 13 bridges in the hinterland

Oct 25, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It is either that Guyanese have a one-eyed PPPC Government, or that local political leaders function with only one side of their brain working.

It is now beyond a doubt that the Government and its decision makers are shortsighted, one-sided, and not functioning with a full deck. Something is wrong with this Government, and we don’t think that it is what Western medicine or herbals could fix satisfactorily. When developments in this country are weighed, there can be only one conclusion: the PPPC Government is the gang that can’t think straight, can’t walk straight, and can’t talk straight.

Here is one case that speaks for itself. “Govt. say…13 hinterland bridges to now cost…$2.2B” -KN October 24). The original numbers coming out of the Ministry of Public Works was $1.7B for the 13 bridges. This means that the new number represents an increase of $500 million more (almost 29.5%) for the 13 bridges. We have to pinch ourselves and ask if this could be real, and what is really going on here, with the development of this new half billion more for these bridges.

Could it be that somebody was left out of the counting and the new $500 million added to keep powerful people happy? An increase of $500 million dollars for 13 bridges indicates that somebody was sleeping on the job, or did not know what they were doing or it could be very likely that they did things, ran the numbers, by the book, only to be called out for failing to consider the usual unspoken incentives that make the system of tenders and contracts, as they relate to infrastructure enhancements work. Hence, this correction made in rapid time.

On the other hand, there is another reality at work here with these 13 bridges. Somebody in the Ministry of Public Works belatedly understood that prices are galloping ahead, and that catching up is a loser. Trying to come to grips with a 29% plus increase in the cost of anything is a tough proposition. With governments, however, too much anxiety does not accompany such price developments, since it is not the money of leaders and ministers, the ones who are doing the spending. Instead, it is the taxpayers’ money spent for them, and a big fuss made over doing good for the people, while not saying a word about how much is siphoned off. Because this has been the story of Guyana whenever public works are part of the mix, the concern is whether some of this is not in motion with the new 29% plus price tag for the 13 bridges. Will Guyanese get value for their money? The works are supposed to lift the structures to “international standards”, which time will tell if it is an exaggeration or part of the old shell game carried out on naïve citizens.

Also, taking the PPPC Government’s increased price for these bridges, political leaders should get a better understanding of what ordinary Guyanese deal with whenever they stop to buy anything. Yesterday’s prices are history, and nothing goes down too much, and it does not stay down for too long. The end result is that Guyanese on the lower rungs of the labour ladder, those battling with less than living wages, have nowhere to go and no one to turn to, in their desperate straits. They need a hand, and this is where government is in the best position to appreciate the plight of their people, and provide meaningful relief.

In many countries, circumstances leave with few options. In Guyana, with its huge oil discoveries and glittering economic numbers, there can be no justification for not helping all Guyanese in need. Not just the favoured few, as practised by this PPPC Government. But genuine assistance for all Guyanese who feel the biting daily pinches, and stare at less than full meals, or an ongoing state of starvation. Prices are going up on everything; Guyanese are going down under the crushing burdens inflicted by runaway prices. It is time that government acts, as its own increased price tag for those 13 hinterland bridges makes clear. Meaning that, it is purely price related, and has no relationship to the traditional political skullduggery.

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$2.2B to rebuild 13 bridges in the hinterland

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$2.2B to rebuild 13 bridges in the hinterland

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