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After two years Guyana still paying for army boat
By Shervin Belgrave
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana is still paying for an offshore patrol vessel (OPV) it had procured for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) some two years ago. The army vessel was procured in 2021 from an American Company called Metal Shark Boats for US$11.5M (G$618M) and was expected to arrive within one year after a US$3M down-payment was made but it never did.
Two years have passed since then and on August 9, 2023, the government went to Parliament seeking additional funding for the completion and delivery of the vessel.
The amount sought was some $50.9M for an expanded work programme. Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Volda Lawrence, noted that the government had set aside $96M in the 2023 budget for the same line item and questioned the need for more money.
Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh
Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance within Office of the President, Dr Ashni Singh in his response revealed that the additional millions were needed for the upgrade GDF’s ICT (Information and communications technology) capability and the completion and delivery of its OPV vessel.
“The second and third sir is in connection with the completion, transport and delivery of the offshore patrol vessel that is being procured,” Singh told the National Assembly while further explaining that it has incurred recurrent costs.
He added that monies for the vessel were set aside in the 2022 as well.
The army boat, according to Singh is near completion, and is expected to arrive in the country sometime in October 2023.
Government on May 20, 2021 had dipped its hands into the Contingency Funds (Monies only used for emergency purposes), to procure the boat and a month later during a Sitting of the National Assembly explained why it was an emergency for Guyana.
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira had said that it was urgent to protect Guyana from Venezuelan incursions.
“Mr. Speaker the decision to move to acquire an offshore patrol vessel, a new one, was taught to be an urgent matter, because of some (Venezuelan) incursions that have taken place in our waters,” Minister Teixeira said.
The Minister said too that Guyana currently has one old vessel, the GDFS Essequibo, which she said, “has not been doing well.” She said that in order to better protect Guyana’s territory, acquiring the new vessel is necessary.
According Minister Teixeira, the new one will be custom built to suit Guyana’s needs.
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