A highly interactive session with meaningful ideas about moving Guyana forward can be the words used to describe Saturday’s Cabinet Outreach at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), Liliendaal, under the theme ‘Conversation on the Future.’

President Bharrat Jagdeo speaking at the cabinet outreach session on national development at GICC

The process, which represents government’s mandate of reaching out to the grassroots of society, had as its main focus the national development agenda which begs the question, “What is needed to move Guyana forward?”

Representatives from a large cross section of society were able to listen, comment and query as President Jagdeo proposed a few unprecedented ideas about Guyana achieving this national development.

The Government has identified, through the National Development Strategy (NDS) and the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), several sectors that are important for Guyana and which the President elaborated upon at the session.

First on the list is a supportive infrastructural environment provided by the state.

“Right now, if you drive from Charity all the way to Berbice, (Molsen Creek), you would see a huge investment in roads, in bridges; territorial integration is a key part of our infrastructural plan because without adequate means of transportation we can’t generate wealth as effectively as we should,” President Jagdeo said.

Reference was also made to the road to Brazil, the deep water harbor and greater travel by air as necessary if Guyana were to be efficient, successful and competitive in production and export.

The development of Guyana’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure was also highlighted by the President as part of the agenda that will see more fiber optic cables heading in Guyana’s direction, the main aim of which is to promote greater connectivity with the rest of the world.

The President disclosed that his Government is working closely with a company to craft a fiber optic ‘backbone’ that will link the main corridors of Guyana with broadband technology.

“That could make a big difference to entrepreneurs, not only the factory that is producing shoes would need to get in touch with its consumers, but the information communication technology related services for Essequibo, or Linden or on the East Coast can all do so without having to worry about cutting the fiber optic cable which causes them to lose millions of dollars,” President Jagdeo said.

Third on the President’s list was power (electricity) which he said is critical to the unleashing of a new economy in Guyana.

At present, a new power plant at Kingston is in the process of being constructed that will add 20.7 megawatts of electricity to the grid in Demerara, while in Berbice some 40 megawatts will be included from the services of the new Skeldon sugar factory.

The President, during the half-day session, traced Guyana’s journey since the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) took office in 1992, noting that it is marked by repairing the state of neglect which was evident in Guyana and servicing debt.

“The fact is that today, we are using four percent of our revenue to service debt as opposed to 94 percent 15 years ago. We now have 96 percent of our revenue to spend back on our people rather than servicing external debt,” President Jagdeo said

Among the highlights of the PPP/C administration’s achievements, the Head of State said, are reduction in the fiscal deficit, expansion in private sector growth with thousands of house lots and housing programmes being launched, an expansion in health facilities and a renewed focus on infrastructure.

While such achievements are worthy of applause, the President said, the disappointment about such progress is the fact that Guyana was in such a neglected state that development was badly needed. 

“The roads, many of them were there before, but then we had to spend billions of dollars to fix them and the sea defences and the schools and the hospitals. How do we expand the wealth of this country? How do we move from just rehabilitation to creating the impetus for future growth in a changing world?  This is where we need to focus,” President Jagdeo said.

Several areas have been identified as part of Government’s priority agenda to promote national  development, foremost among which, the President said, are to closely monitor events in the rest of the  world.

Guyana, as a fledgling nation with an economy that relies heavily on its export market, will not be prosperous with an economy driven solely by internal demand, the President said.

“Everything that happens in the rest of the world will impact on our well-being, so if there are economic problems in China, and China buys rice and sugar or bauxite from Guyana, then we too will suffocate. So we can’t build a barrier between us and the rest of the world; we have to work aggressively to influence policy decisions made by the rest of the world to ensure that they do not significantly affect our economic and political interests,” the President emphasised. (GINA)