The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is urging stakeholders who will interact closely with the visitors for the Cricket World Cup to use the metric system.
The GNBS said stakeholders, including members of the local organising committee, volunteers who will serve in various capacities including staff at hotels, tour operators, taxi drivers, vendors and retailers, “need to use the metric system, as most of our visitors coming from countries such as India, Australia, may have long forgotten about pounds and ounces and gallons and pints.”
Also, it said, the metric system was adopted as the official and legal system of measurement here since January 1, 2002 and visitors will expect that citizens use it to conduct routine activities. It said tour guides, for example, should be able to give the area of Guyana, the distance from Timehri to Georgetown and the height of the St George’s Cathedral or the Kaieteur Falls, in metric units.
The GNBS is responsible for spearheading the national metrification campaign and sees this approach as essential to avoiding confusion and facilitating easy communication.
It advises vendors and retailers to equip themselves with metric weighing and measuring devices and use same to sell goods without having to convert. The GNBS said persons habitually convert from one system to the other but only the metric system should be used and it stands ready to offer assistance in the form of training and issuing information. The public is advised to contact the Bureau at telephone numbers 225-6226, 227-7890 or 227-7889 for assistance or to visit its website located at www.gnbs.info where useful metric conversions have been posted.
