– wants affordable electricity for business sector
A briefing note prepared by the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and made available to Stabroek Business lists the completion of a Guyana/Brazil road and designation of the Ogle Aerodrome as a municipal airport as key steps towards the realization of the National Development Strategy.
At the same time, the brief identifies “current shortfalls” in electricity generation as one of its biggest concerns. “The key to a successful power company is to generate at a cost that will get the private sector back on the grid,” the PSC says in its briefing note.
The private sector is pinning its hopes on the completion of the Amalia Falls hydroelectric project to salvage a national electricity generation system, which sections of the business community say have failed the private sector. According to the PSC briefing note, “the Amalia Falls Project has the potential to bring down the cost of electricity to 12 cents per kilowatt hour” and to “transform the sector totally, making Guyana an attractive light manufacturing destination.”
Meanwhile, the PSC said it has set up a working group to oversee progress towards the completion of the Guyana/Brazil road link and the commencement of trans-border trade between the two countries, The brief notes that the Takutu Bridge has been completed while at Lethem various offices necessary for the processing of documents associated with cross-border trade have already been set up. “We now need to finalise arrangements so that Guyanese traders can benefit from outward trade to Brazil,” the PSC briefing note adds.
The note also alludes to ongoing work towards the creation of a Lethem Industrial Area including private sector leases for the area.
According to the brief, government has allocated $300 million for the creation of aspects of the complex’s infrastructure including roads, water, electricity, telephones, sewerage and drainage.
With regard to the Ogle Aerodrome, which has been leased from the state by a consortium of private sector businesses in the aviation sector, the report said that much of the planned rehabilitation work at the facility has been done. This newspaper is aware that differences had arisen between the investors and government over issues relating to how funding provided through a grant for the second phase of the runway extension project should be disbursed. While officials assigned to the project have remained tight-lipped about the start of the second phase of the rehabilitation work for several months, this newspaper has learnt that a contract for the completion of the runway extension project has now been awarded to a local contractor.
The private sector is pinning its hopes on an upgraded Ogle aviation facility to boost the country’s tourism sector and to allow for easier and quicker access to the various far-flung interior areas in order to facilitate more effective exploitation of the mining and forestry sectors.
Meanwhile, the PSC said that the construction of the Berbice River Bridge represents “the completion of a key component of the strategy,” noting that apart from the relief that it has brought to travellers and its contribution to increased commercial activity in that region the bridge has also created “the potential for new business synergies.”
It also disclosed that in anticipation of a post-monopoly national telecommunications regimen an overseas firm, Foley and Hoag, “has been hired to do the legal framework for the future de-monopolized industry”.
Other developments deemed positive by the PSC and which it refers to in its briefing paper are the installation of refrigeration facilities at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, which it says “will add to the further enhancement of the export conditions for perishable goods,” the creation of a commercial court and the establishment of a Matching Grant Fund, which the brief said, “will supplement for those entrepreneurs who require and qualify for such funding.”
The PSC said that progress towards the setting up of a Credit Bureau to support the funding requirements of the small business sector has only progressed to the point of preparation of legislation which it says is ready to be presented to the National Assembly. At the same time, according to the PSC, “no real progress” has been made towards the setting up of the proposed Mutual Guarantee Fund, which it said is intended to finance persons with sound business ideas that meet the criteria set by its “risk rating system” but with no collateral to finance their projects.”
Meanwhile private sector sources have told Stabroek Business that there appears to be no reliable short-term plan to resolve the current inefficiencies in the electricity generating system. One private sector official described as “a gross understatement” the view expressed in the PSC brief that current shortfalls in electricity generation were “annoying.”
Meanwhile, the brief prepared by the PSC identifies corporate governance as an important “competitiveness issue” adding that the private sector was partnering with government and other stakeholders to improve the quality of governance. “Jointly, we have come up with a reference for a world-class consultant to come to Guyana to make recommendations for the shoring up of our framework for the practice of better governance for the benefit of all stakeholders. We have also agreed on including the governance of state-owned enterprises in the terms,” the briefing note added.
