…lauds President Jagdeo for his contribution
Director of Sport, PPP/C Member of Parliament Neil Kumar, said sport is a path to peace, social harmony and cohesion and he recognised President Bharrat Jagdeo’s tremendous contribution to the development of sport in Guyana. Speaking during the budget debate in Parliament, Kumar said over the years several sport associations, sport teams and sport personalities had received tremendous assistance from President Jagdeo’s direct intervention.
He noted too that the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is collaborating with several other ministries to significantly impact on social issues in Guyana through sport.
“The alliance with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education is developing rapidly and our people’s awareness of the necessity and importance of a healthy lifestyles is quickly growing,” Kumar said.
He said that government’s spending on sports must be fully supported, since sports give rise to personal and social discipline and sport personalities are among the most popular and influential people in the world.  “Thus, it is necessary to recognize sports as a path to peace and social harmony and cohesion,” he said.
Giving a review of 2010, he said that it was a year of many sporting accomplishments.  “Our national cricket team won the Inaugural Regional Twenty/20 tournament and represented Guyana and the entire Caribbean at the Airtel Tournament in South Africa.  Our own Hugh Ross captured the world title.  Significantly, several sports disciplines made genuine progress and Guyana is truly set on a path to greater international achievements, where our Golden Arrow Head will fly high,” he said.
He noted that as the 9th Parliament aproaches its end, he must recognize the tremendous impact in the development of sport in the country.  “Allow me to express my highest appreciation for the aggressive and solid support of our minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, who improved relationships with national sports associations/federations, along with the unflinching support of the Government of Guyana and President Jagdeo in particular,” he said.
He said that because of what government has been able to accomplish, people are living  far better lifestyles.  “Gone are the days when our young people are getting married and living under people’s houses.  Today, thousands of Guyanese, particularly poor and middle-income Guyanese and young people are getting house lots and reasonable loans to build their own houses,” he said.
“Mr. Speaker, as we travel from Georgetown to Rosignol, we are tremendously impressed with the spanking new houses and housing schemes.  Further, as we travel from Georgetown to Timehri we are amazed to see the development.  The new housing scheme at Diamond stands out where we have approximately ten thousand houses put up in the Grove/Diamond Area.  The Buxton/Foulis, the Good Hope and the Non Pariel Scheme are only a few of the Government’s achievements in housing.  Water, electricity and roads are all in place,” he said.
“Mr. Speaker, the PNCR-IG members on the other side of the House have no basis with which they can compare the unprecedented work done by our PPP/C government in the continuing betterment of the standard of living for all the people of this country,” he said.
Turning to the bauxite sector, he said the industry has been unprofitable since 1982 and it had deteriorated under the past PNC administration.
“The poor condition of both plant and mining equipment resulted in heavy loss of market during the `80s and early `90s.  In 1985, we had a financial intervention of 34.5 million ECU by Sysmin (System of Mining  Products – Special Financing Facility) and we had financial intervention in 1991 by the World Bank, Sysmin and the European Investment Bank , providing US$23 Million in credits in that phase for use in the Initial Restructuring Phase (IRP).  Despite abundant assistance, Linmine’s production fell (more than 45% from 1991 to 1992) and continued to drop thereafter, despite Minproc which was brought in under the PNC administration to manage the industry in an attempt to make it profitable,” he said.
He noted that in 2003, government took a decision to have Cambior, a Canadian company who owned OMAI Gold Mine, manage the Linmine Operations as an interim measure, until the financing for the full joint venture through privatisation took place.
“In the month of December, 2004, the Linden Bauxite[Company] was privatized by joint shares with Cambior having 70% shares and government 30% shares.  The Cambior shares were sold to BOSAI CHINA in year 2007.  Today, the PPP/C can boast that BOSAI is running the Linmine Operation at a profit over the last two years,” said Kumar.
He said too that the Berbice operation is also a success story.  “BCGI is also administering a successful business.  The workers are no longer insecure.  With the development and the extension programme, RUSAL will ensure that the Berbice operation is also run as a profitable business,” Kumar said.
“Mr. Speaker, a careful look at the period under review reveals that there was significant development in Region 10,” he said.
He noted that the LEAP Project, which was the brainchild of the President, provided tremendous development in the region.
Among the accomplishments of LEAP are rehabilitation and extension of the West Watooka farm to market road; installation of culverts at West Watooka; rehabilitation of the Moblissa Road; rehabilitation of 3 sluices/Kokers – Burnham Drive; construction of Spreightland Bridge; rehabilitation of the Mackenzie Car Park; and  construction of the Sub-Office at Ituni for the RDC.
He also spoke of a number of investments occurring in Linden, and among them he named Bai Shan Lin wood processing company (US$10M), Sunshine Timbers (US$5M), and smaller ones such as Arawak Shoe Factory ($20M) and GNIC container yard (US$855,000).