At commissioning of $50M venture…
PRIME Minister Samuel Hinds has predicted that, through the efforts of the people in the town, Linden, like the rest of Guyana, will rise, again, with diversified economic activities. At the commissioning, Friday afternoon, of the $50M JB Metals and Fabrication workshop, he also congratulated Sri Lankan-born entrepreneur, Mr. Joseph Bhaskaran for his vision in establishing the business that will see the use of scrap to manufacture tools such as impellers, cutting heads, employing 25 persons.
The factory is situated in the former bauxite ore car shed and Railroad Department but Mr. Hinds spoke at a reception, at Watoooka Club, also in Mackenzie, after cutting the ribbon and unveiling a plaque at the site.
The guests included Executive Director of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Mr. Winston Brassington; Head of Go-Invest Mr. Geoffrey Da Silva; Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Horace James and Operations Head, Mr. Andrew Forsythe, both of Linmine Secretariat; Chairman of Linden Salvation Council, Mr. Phillip Bynoe and Executive Director of Guyana Sand Port Inc., Brazilian Mr. Rodrigo De Paulo.
Mr. Hinds said: “I am hoping that some people will be challenged and some people will want to emulate Mr. Bhaskaran.”
The Prime Minister said he was thankful for an earlier remark, by Lindener Bynoe, that Government has been paying attention to the Linden area, particularly citing the creation of Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP).
Mr. Hinds recalled that it was a very close argument to get LEAP.
“It took a long time. It took five reviews and, at the beginning, we pushed for a programme in the order of about 25 million euros, that had a lot of investment in it but, eventually, we had to settle for LEAP, designed to be a change of mind programme, changing people’s thinking and mindset,” he remembered.
He said it is important to work to change people’s mindset and, alluding to what had been said by Da Silva, Hinds declared it may be time to put aside the saying that Linden is depressed.
Very exciting
Hinds observed that not only is Amelia’s Ward very exciting but also Block 22 and some other areas are quite impressive.
He went on:“So we have to get out of the feeling of victimhood. We have to get out of the feeling that other people do and we are done to. We have to get out of that mode of thinking. And I want to say the experience in Linden is not unique to the world.”
“I think there has been a great amount of success in this, in that, today, in Linden, we have, maybe about 700 people employed directly in bauxite. In the good old days, there were 6,500 or more employed in bauxite. In those days, every home had someone working with the bauxite industry but, today, maybe only about a tenth in the homes work in bauxite. But I would say this, that Linden, today, is bigger and brighter than it ever was before. You just have to look at the total area in Linden, look at the total buildings and yes I would say we should.”
Hinds concluded that there is a great future possible.
“But it lies in our hands,” he declared.
Bhaskaran, in his remarks, said, while, officially, the company was being commissioned that day, his business at Linden began some three months ago and, before that, the preparation for the operation was put in to motion eight months ago.
He said, among the companies, he supplies are CBR Mining, a major customer, Japarts and Kazim of Bartica.
Bhaskaran said he came to Guyana some 20 years ago and is a part owner of Guyana Sand Port Inc.