PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar gave Berbicians food for thought yesterday when he announced that Guyana is to soon join the ranks of the oil and gas producing countries.He dropped the proverbial bombshell while speaking at the launch of the Atlantic Reader Series at the Port Mourant Primary School. “We have to prepare our country for what is ahead of us,” he told those gathered at the event.

“We cannot stand still,” he said. “We can never be content with what we have, because standing still is to be left behind in a rapidly changing world. We have no choice but to go ahead.”

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

Preparations for the future, he said, include cheap energy, which, for Guyana, means the fructification of the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP).
Slated to be this nation’s most ambitious undertaking ever, the hydropower project is touted to be able to provide Guyanese with a cheaper, much more reliable and sustainable source of electricity. It involves the construction of a hydropower plant in the area of West-Central Guyana, where the Amaila and Kuribrong Rivers meet.
Electricity produced there would be transmitted to Georgetown, and Guyana’s second largest town, Linden. The AFHP is anticipated to result in substantial savings to the nation’s coffers, particularly in terms of foreign exchange and the purchase of heavy fuel oil.
The allocation of $1.3B for the provision of the Amaila Project Access Road and related infrastructure was effectively given the green light from the Parliamentary Committee of Supply in its review of the Ministry of Public Works’ 2014 budgetary allocation, in April last year.
When the vote was put to the Members of Parliament (MPs), those from the Government side of the House voted in support of the Ministry’s capital expenditures, which included the Amaila project. A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) voted ‘No’, while the Alliance For Change (AFC) abstained. It was this abstention that allowed the project to go through.

On July 18, 2013, the combined Opposition defeated the Hydro-electric Power (Amendment) Bill in the National Assembly, and in August, the Government took the Legislation back to the House and received the backing of the AFC; but APNU voted down the Bill and Motion.

President Donald Ramotar’s consistent position on the matter is that economies must serve the people, not vice-versa, and with an expected saving of $9B in electricity subsidies, as well as savings on the $40B fuel bill, enormous investments can be made in other key areas, which will contribute to the improvement of the quality of life for the average Guyanese man, woman and child.
Yesterday, the President underscored the endless possibilities for advances on the economic front, once the Amaila project is completed, including the opportunities for a booming manufacturing sector.
“The lack of cheap energy is not taking us where we need to go,” he stressed.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS

President Ramotar made it clear that his Government, as well as successive PPP/C administrations, has pushed the development of Guyana, from a strategic standpoint.
He cited the initiatives in the various sectors that have complementing impacts as evidence of his Government’s employment of strategic development approaches.

According to him, the establishment of technical institutes position young Guyanese to access opportunities in a more rapidly developing manufacturing sector, once ‘Amaila’ comes on stream, while investments in the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project complements the investments in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) projects.
“It’s the combination of all the measures we are using that has allowed us to be at the top; we have very important developments in our country,” he said.
The President made it clear that the bottomline has always been to ensure that all Guyanese, youths in particular, are positioned in a manner that is advantageous to their future endeavours.
“The bottom line is the development of our people,” he said, adding that every citizen has equal opportunities to reach their full potential.
The President also alluded to the fact that his Government has been making strategic investments to advance the development of Guyana and improve the quality of living for all Guyanese.

(By Vanessa Narine)