…PM Nagamootoo tells IRF conference

THE Eighth International Road Federation (IRF) Caribbean Regional Congress opened in Guyana on Wednesday with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo urging that infrastructure development across the region must be used as a vehicle to help boost the performance of other sectors.

The congress brought together Ministers of the Governments of Jamaica, Barbados and Suriname; Vice Presidents and Directors of the IRF; members of the diplomatic corps and visiting a delegation from CARICOM and around the world.

They met at the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC) where they commenced a three-day discussion under the theme ‘Modernising the Region’s Roads for Future Generations’.
The event serves to allow infrastructure leaders to learn, explore and share solutions and technologies which will work to improve on transportation challenges in the Region.

In his address to the congress, Nagamootoo welcomed the visiting engineering and finance experts to the discussion of critical factors impacting the transportation sector in the Region. He urged them to work to define policies which will create balanced economies of development in infrastructure and other vital areas such as agriculture.

Nagamootoo explained that while infrastructural development is crucial, it must be used to propel other sectors needed for the basic survival of a country’s citizens. “We need to learn from the experiences of countries nearby, perhaps a contiguous state, where you can have all the infrastructures based on incalculable revenues but those infrastructures did not lead to the production of food; did not guarantee the basis for food security,” he expounded.

“When you hear mention of countries and great economies facing a possible melt down, it is the lack of balance and proportionality between infrastructural development and the opening up of the country to produce the other benefits the society depends on for its prosperity and even survival.”

The Prime Minister also urged the leaders in the sector to place emphasis on the need for sound building practices which will ensure public safety. “We should strive, [here] in the Caribbean, that we are not only concerned with putting up infrastructures [but] we’re concerned with having safe infrastructures; people-friendly infrastructures; infrastructures that have high resilience and they’re designed with relevant technology that depend or reflect sound building practices,” Nagamootoo said.

Meanwhile, presenting Guyana’s position as it relates to infrastructure was Guyana’s Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson. He said the holding of the IRF Regional Congress represents the commitment of the involved countries to go beyond the stage of conceptualisation to development and implementation.

He announced that with oil production engraved in Guyana’s future, the Ministry is working in accordance with an Infrastructural Development plan to set the stage for the next five years for development in Guyana. This will include roads, bridges, overpasses, ports and stellings both in hinterland and urban areas.

The plan includes the construction of over 577 kilometers (km) of new paved highways and the rehabilitation of over 120km of roadways beyond central Georgetown. Patterson thanked the IRF for its past contributions and welcomed future collaboration in the areas of road safety; transportation systems and road financing.

“I give my absolute assurance that our ministry will continue to set the pace; execute our policies and create the enabling environment for the transformation of our public infrastructure,” he said. “The future is bright for Guyana and by extension, our Region. Together, we can partner to captialise on competitive advantage of each of our countries as

we position ourselves to maximize economies upscale.”
Remarks came too from Minister of Transport and Mining in Jamaica Robert Montague who also expressed gratitude to the IRF on behalf of the Caribbean for their investment in the Region.

He stated that Jamaica, through improved transportation and road infrastructure, is working to reduce their high number of road which already stands at 174 for the year. Montague explained that country is working to implement smart technology into its road system which it believes will ultimately lead to fewer fatalities.

During the opening ceremony, visiting members were serenaded with a taste of Guyanese culture through music, dance, folklore and poetry while several booths at the location displayed local businesses on the rise.

Over the next two days, those attending will participate in several breakout sessions which follow the themes of road safety; construction and testing; public-private-partnerships and more.