Finance Minister hails European continuing support
By Sharief Khan
GUYANA is receiving crucial and timely support from the European Union to advance a master plan rooted in rational use of land for all sectors of development around the country.
-The assistance is under a new 51 million Euros aid programme from the EU to Guyana which Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday hailed as further evidence of the communityxs willingness to continue aid to Guyana despite the current global economic and financial crisis. The aid is covered in agreements the two sides signed at the Finance Ministry in Georgetown under the 2008-2013 10th European Development Fund (EDF) programme for Guyana.

Presidential Adviser on land use, Mr. Andrew Bishop, said the intention is to have a master or national plan and at least three regional plans that will cover land use stretching from land for forestry development, mining, eco-tourism, industrial, residential and agriculture, to drainage and irrigation.

Lands for Amerindian communities have been demarcated and demarcation will continue under the master plan, he said at the ceremony. Three million Euros are allocated for developing the mast plan under this aspect of the EDF.

Bishop said the plan will aid rational decision-making in land use across the country.

Singh said the government importantly needs a land use plan against which it can make decisions to prioritise infrastructural requirements for the countryxs development strategy, including which industries are best for which region and residential development.

EU Ambassador here, Mr. Geert Heikens said the European Commission and the Guyana Government are convinced that developing a land use master plan will xpromote sustainable and equitable land management, ultimately leading to poverty reductionx.

xThe master plan will address clearly the environmental sustainability of regional development as well as the need to review and further elaborate planning legislationx, he said.

The funds under the new EDF are grants and Minister Singh said the EUxs willingness to provide part of these through sector budget support could mean more timely and effective disbursements for Guyanaxs development.

About 15 million Euros will go to sea defence and coastal management and 30.2 million will be to support Guyanaxs poverty reduction strategy and help it achieve set United Nations development goals.

The aid programme in addition covers 10 million Euros for governance; unforeseen needs such as emergency assistance which cannot be financed from the EU budget; and support to mitigate the adverse effects of instability in export earnings.

Heikens said work under the three-year land use master plan should get underway by August and will be implemented by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.

Main action areas include:
** Preparing national and regional lands use plans

** Improving database management

** Enhancing interaction between the Lands Commission, external agencies and stakeholders

** And developing a road map for rationalizing planning legislation.

Bishop said the Lands Commission badly needs the support to implement laws governing land use and the EU assistance is extremely timely and valuable.

Heikens said Guyanaxs land resource is currently xconsiderably underutilizedx, noting that its strategic use and protection is xcentral to the countryxs development prospectsx.

xIt is necessary to have in place a comprehensive plan that will allow for the success of wider governmental policies depending to a large extent on coordinated diversification throughout the ten regions, supported by the necessary planned insfrastructurex, he said.

Praising the EU for continuing assistance to Guyana in the face of the continuing global financial and economic crisis, Singh said that with the crisis, it becomes even more important that anticipated levels of development assistance be delivered.

The Guyana Government, he said, will spare no effort in advocating the maintenance and an increase in the levels of development assistance to countries like Guyana.

He said the timing of the EU programme is testimony to its commitment to continue to deliver this assistance which Guyana welcomes and hopes other development partners will emulate the EU examples at levels required to sustain and preserve gains and accelerate progress in fighting poverty and promoting economic growth.