Spending like crazy on roads

Sep 18, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – The PPP/C Government is running on a fast road. In the first six months of this year $25.5B has been spent on roads. Whatever is used to describe such a huge amount of spending on roads in such a short space of time falls short of identifying the priority and the frenzy. It is eye-popping when compared to other sectors, mouthwatering when this great amount is considered, and how much it could make happen. After all, the more that is spent, the more the opportunities surface to take advantage of the mad rush, by slipping a fast one into the excitement generated by the express speed of road activity. Who is going to know, and by the time anybody finds out anything, the interest to do something would have died down.

Using a 180-day half year convention, the $25.5B in road spending works out to slightly over $141.6M per day. And working with a 10-hour day, it is just above $14M per hour spent by the PPP/C Government on roads. We acknowledge that there are several road projects that are ongoing at the same time, so the demand for men and material is like a vacuum: it sucks up all in its path, and that costs money. This raises a few pertinent questions. Considering Guyana’s severe shortage of a skilled labor force, who is there to oversee these road projects flying past at dizzying speeds? What kind of quality oversight are Guyanese getting for their billions? Are projects being probed to ensure proper adherence to the technical requirements? Or are they simply signed-off on the run, and with those having oversight responsibility keeping their fingers crossed while hoping that there is no rupture nor cave-in later? In a nutshell, are the Guyanese taxpayers getting value for their $14+ million expended every hour?

Accountants and auditors are vital components in the machinery of checks and balances. Do we have enough of them, and do they have the time to be fully focused on the job before them, or are they stretched thin? It is a consequence of life that when people have their hands full, and are forced to rush, then mistakes are all but inevitable because important areas could be overlooked, and costly errors made. The government may take offense at these questions, and comfort itself by claiming that the detractors in Guyana don’t want to see progress. Only someone who is very shortsighted, or intellectually famished, could arrive at such a silly and narrow-minded conclusion. How else to describe such a conclusion, such a self-serving piece of insipidity?

The bitter and repeated experience of Guyanese has been that when there were less roads built, and significantly less millions were spent, the quality of too many completed road projects handed over fell apart too quickly. Guyana has not since built up a reservoir of skills and talents to supervise the rash of projects (roads, hospitals, bridges, schools, and so forth) that spring up all over the place. It can be said with conviction that though there have been changes, they are not of enough strength. In other words, the numbers are too small. Both President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo have spoken repeatedly about the skills deficit and the urgent need to build capacity. So, the question raises its head again: where are the capable people to see that specs are met? In the absence of those, what confidence can be placed in the technical overseers that are present? Do they have what is required to function at very demanding levels? When engineers are scrambling to pay flying visits on a continuing basis to cover their portfolio of projects, chances will have to be taken. The $25.5B spent in six months then take on a different appearance.

Should anyone think that we are against road building and such, we say dismiss the thought. We recognize infrastructure expansion, due to the utility that such represents, and the differences that are contributed to the quality of Guyanese life. But this will only happen when every dollar spent delivers as stated. This takes on special meaning when there are thousands of Guyanese who struggle to feed their families. Every budget dollar counts, and must deliver in spades.

amount, Government, priority, roads, sectors

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Spending like crazy on roads

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