-Publisher attempts to justify lack of veracity in newspaper reports
CARICOM has failed abysmally to drive the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) in any significant way over the years since the concept was first mooted, but this has not impeded regional entrepreneurs from innovating and initiating dynamic ventures that have contributed to the region’s growth and development. Guyanese leaders have been on the forefront in the regional construct trying to jumpstart activity in various sectors and sub-sectors, with scant success.  The Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture is a case in point.  Except for limited movement by private business entities, which have been constrained by lack of facilitating mechanisms by their nation states, the growth of the agriculture sector in the region has been severely stunted by the inaction of regional leaders, most of whom are content to largely depend with an insular focus on the tourism industry.
However, another passion of the PPP/C administration to drive national development with a green face is an ethanol industry, among other initiatives that could harness clean energy and make optimum use of Guyana’s spectacular quantum and quality of bio-diversity.  In a very small way NAREI and the Skeldon sugar factory have been piloting ethanol production in Guyana.
But to impact in any major way, the development of such an industry would necessitate massive outlays of resources and finance, as well as land mass that could produce feedstock in requisite quantities and of workable quality that could make the necessary investments of all the components required for the venture a viable proposition.
So the Government of the former President Bharrat Jagdeo administration and the giant conglomerate, ANSA McAl Group of Companies did what CARICOM should be doing – entered into an agreement to explore the feasibility of marrying the financial strength and massive resources of the entrepreneurial entity with the unused land mass in Guyana in an effort to copy Brazil’s success with the ethanol industry and create a profitable sub-sector in Guyana’s vibrant agricultural sector.
If successful, the spin-off benefits to this country and Guyanese – both directly and indirectly, would supersede original expectations, because the emergence of many satellite industries would be a natural progression, if one but dares to dream of the wonderful outcomes of accepting such a challenge.
Dr. Cheddi Jagan dared to dream of a free, united and prosperous Guyana, and he infused members of his party with his visionary leadership, which has led to a young President Bharrat Jagdeo and his administrative team transforming Guyana’s economy from being a plague-ridden patient that none thought could be revived into a strong, vibrant force on the global landscape.
The PPP/C administration has been joined on this journey of restoration of this nation’s economic, social and infrastructural health by equally dynamic and visionary partners, majorly in this country’s private sector; and this story is a saga worthy of being emulated regionally, and even on a global scale.
Hence the influx of global entrepreneurs wanting to partner with such an administration is not a surprising eventuality, given the current state of global economies.  The ANSA McAl Grouping is no exception.
Aneal Maharaj, Finance Director of the Ansa McAl Group, also spoke of visionary leadership within that conglomerate, which has driven the Group to become the entrepreneurial giant that it is today; and this colossal business entity has its roots firmly planted astraddle the regional nation-states – Guyana being no exception.
And the Ansa McAl executives dared to share the dream of the PPP/C administration to create an industry that they envision would profit in a myriad ways the company and this country, not least being job creation for Guyanese, training in a whole new field for employees and potential employees, technical assistance to, and sharing of ideas, research, and resources with GuySuCo and other state-run entities.
This would entail massive infusion of capital, to be borne solely by Ansa McAl; initially an approximate outlay of US$2.7M to conduct a feasibility study, then an estimated US$300M to establish an ethanol plant in Guyana.
Guyana’s partnership would entail the lease of lands (which would need substantial sums to be developed into suitability for agronomic purposes), for growing feedstock in the Canje Basin and probably the savannahs.  This project would provide jobs for many rural and hinterland dwellers throughout its several phases prior to operation, as well as skilled and unskilled personnel to man its operations once (and if) the project gets underway.
Business initiatives are a process and works in progress; so in all probability informal approaches were first made – and who made the first approach is moot; then initial talks were engaged in; then as the dream germinated into an idea and the vision coalesced into a concept the two parties solidified their aspirations into an undertaking by both – one to provide the finances and the expertise, and the other to provide the facilitating mechanisms so that this wonderful dream would one day – hopefully in the very near future, fructify into a reality that would benefit both the Ansa Mcal family and the Guyanese family.
But the destroyers of dreams and makers of nightmares could only see evil and sinister landscapes haunted by ghouls and the ghosts of their own imagination, and they went on their usual verbal rampage of vitriolic rhetoric.  “Corruption” they screamed; “secret deals” they averred, with their usual sanctimonious posturing and their customary disrespect and rejection of truth, or without first authenticating the veracity of their accusations.
Alternative fuels has become the leitmotif of global economies and as a proactive business conglomerate ANSA McAl intends to cash in, especially in partnership with the Government of Guyana, which has been passionate about its espousal of the green concept in development but, as Maharaj explained, there has been nothing sinister or secret about the MoU between the GoG and the Ansa McAl Group, merely a documented agreement that would jumpstart the feasibility study, projected to be completed in December 2012, which may or may not actualize into a project.  Until then all the risks would be undertaken solely by the mega-corporation. The feasibility report, stressed Maharaj, would include studies on infrastructure and development works, the plant and requisite equipment, as well as rolling stock.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 30th September 2011 by Ansa McAl Business Development Executive, Anthony N Sabga 111; Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon; and former GO-Invest CEO, Desmond Mohamed and witnessed by then Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, and ANSA McAl executives, Aneal Maharaj and Beverley Harper.
If the study determines sugarcane to be the most viable feedstock then, according to Maharaj, the ethanol plant is projected to have the capacity to process up to 2,000,000 tonnes of sugarcane per year.  The giant regional trading company has noted that this world-scale bio-fuel project will be well-positioned to successfully become a low-cost, globally-competitive provider of ethanol to international and regional markets.
Executives of the trading giant explained to the media at a press conference held at the Pegasus on Wednesday last that business operates in a competitive environment, thus confidentiality is imperative, so disclosure of its feasibility findings would be shared with the government but would not be made public due to the competitive nature of the project.
According to Maharaj, “Making such agreements public puts both parties at a competitive disadvantage.”
“ANSA McAL competes for capital and competes for projects with many other companies regionally, so I will be hesitant to give you an assurance that we will be sharing that agreement with you.”  The release of information and agreements to the public, he stressed, must be with the mutual consent of the government and the ANSA McAL group.
Whether it is governments or private sector entities, confidentiality clauses are often written into agreements or contracts to protect projects until they are up and running; so while the Guyana government needs to be held accountable to the nation for deals they make, they are, at the end of the day, the custodians of the nation and the body that has been chosen and trusted by the people to make the best choices in their interest.
There is no government in the world that has ever managed to eradicate poverty in their country, but the PPP/C has demonstrated, through its provisions in all the social sectors, that it is a caring government committed to work in the best interest of all the people in the land.
And yes, there are many hiccups in the administrative methodologies, but, in the final analysis, could all the other aspirants to high office perform better?  The PNC/APNU had 28 years and what did they achieve for this nation?  Any rational person should analyze the character of the opposition collective who try to destroy everything good that the PPP/C government has achieved for the Guyanese people and they could not help but recognise that there is no alternative to government but the incumbent administration.
Glenn Lall, publisher of the Kaieteur News, most likely in consideration of the possible loss of the ANSA McAL advertising dollar, turned up at the media briefing with blustering accusations about the government and “secret deals”.  He, however, stopped short of apologising for the accusation and the implied dishonesty of the trading company and the government by Kaieteur News.
Any partnership between the government and the ANSA McAl Group of Companies could redound in no other way but to the benefit of Guyana and Guyanese, because this government has proven its sound economic policies and its willingness to explore every avenue to bring development to this country and prosperity to all Guyanese, while ANSA McAL has an undisputed track record, even by its detractors, of phenomenal success in its business undertakings.
Its Guyanese staff is well taken care of and accorded every right and benefit to make any employee happy, and its contributions to the local society and the art and sporting worlds are practically limitless.
Any partnership between government and this redoubtable trading company would therefore only be to the national good, because two hyper economies would be linked in a partnership of growth and development.  The naysayers and doomsayers can attempt with all their firepower to shoot this project down before it can get off the ground, as they have done, but the pilots at the helm – the ANSAL McAL group and the Guyana Government are the miracle-workers of growth and development and, come December 2012, Guyana’s ethanol industry would take off with a bang, with the sky being the limit.