THE statements attributed to AFC Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo, on President Donald Ramotar’s securing a US$50 million line of credit from the Republic of India for the execution of two major infrastructure project initiatives – the Ogle – Eccles Bypass Road Project and the New Northwest Ferry – are disappointing, confusing and tragicomic in the Kaieteur News of January 12, 2015.

Any balanced read of the very article which contains Mr. Nagamootoo’s statements along with the experience of the traffic situation which the Ogle – Eccles project will address speak volumes as to the urgent necessity for the project intervention. It is, therefore, disappointing and confusing that Mr. Nagamootoo, an experienced and “veteran” politician would condescend to describe, as quoted

directly, “… fly by night ideas that are being floated.” This is the very idea that he too deemed as necessary in paragraph 6 in the said article.

Mr. Nagamootoo goes further by joining the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion Project to his unique idea of “fly by night projects”.

One can conclude, therefore, that a runway extension of 1,000 metres for aircraft capacity increase and safety assurance, and a 17,000 metres square modern, efficient, and new terminal building are not at all necessary following Mr. Nagamootoo’s thought process on these matters.

He continues to deliberately mislead the public as to the reasons the Government of Guyana accessed (China Exim Bank) Bank Loan funds for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport project. The reasons were and remain on the Cheddi Jagan International Airport expansion project was sorely needed and that the China – Caricom Summit in Port of Spain Trinidad presented a final time bound opportunity to fund it on advantageous soft loan terms.

The AFC’s own ideas on an airport expansion project came from its lead person on finance and infrastructure, Mr. Gerhard Ramsaroop who, in a televised debate on the project, mooted that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport be abandoned and a new airport be built on the West Bank of Demerara, at Sandhills. This idea would involve the loss investment funds sunk into Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri and the replication and extension of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport infrastructure as all new – not to mention the need imposed to build new road and a new upstream Demerara River Bridge, which would also have to accommodate oceangoing river traffic! All of this would likely convert a US$150 authorised project to one that is five times greater in costs at least and needed funding!

Last, but not least, on the project side, no one should argue with the need to secure a new northwest ferry. Besides the fact of the current fleet assets being quite old, the accommodations and en route times are very unsuitable and tedious, respectively, for this service. This discussion has been oft repeated both in the media and in the National Assembly where last Mr. Nagamootoo was an active participant. One would hope that the AFC is not now again setting its sights on shooting down another vital project which provides the life line transport link to Amerindian communities as occurred with the Opposition refusals for Budget 2014 where Hinterland Aerodromes and the Amerindian Development Fund amongst others fell victim to the combined Opposition’s hatchets.

We need to remind, again, that funding from the BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are on typically very advantageous and concessional terms, and that these projects by their very nature in transiting the funding and project cycles, require feasibility and engineering design studies all of which involve consultation.

Perhaps Mr. Nagamootoo may wish to intimate:- why – after having been consulted and provided with all the feasibility and engineering studies for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion Project and having benefited from the debates and interventions in the National Assembly, – the combined Opposition, of which the AFC is a very vocal member, refused further funding for the project in 2014, after having approved the project via a mobilisation in 2013? What discovery propelled the attempt to hold up or kill a vital national project that would see cheaper airfares, efficient travel and an opportunity to enhance our tourism and transport networking attractiveness!

All things considered, the answer should specifically identify the real denizens who “fly by night” and are the main actors in the tragi-comedy we in Government have been striving to have our country avoid.

We can all recall the visceral negative criticisms from sections of the media and Opposition circles when Guyana undertook, with Indian Government Funding, to build a new cricket stadium, at Providence, to International Cricket Council Standards.

The undeniable fact that the Providence Stadium fulfilled its intended mission for Cricket World Cup, combined with the reality of an exemplary facility that is enjoyed by all, for a variety of cultural and social events, is a testimony to the fact that what Nagamootoo deems as “fly by night” PPP/C Government projects result in solid, viable, enduring projects, on solid ground, benefitting all Guyanese.

On the question of the seeming uptake of additional public debt, Mr. Nagamootoo should recall when, as a Minister of the first PPP/C Government in 1992, he was amongst those at the Cheddi Jagan Cabinet who wrestled with the seemingly hopeless problem of having to spend more than 93 percent of all revenues to service debts for which he even argued there was little to show for. Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh; is the expert on these matters – on which he may wish to further elucidate – but I would be bold to venture that there is no unsustainable taking on of debt by the Ramotar administration. The initiatives of the kind being undertaken are designed to energise the national economy!
Nagamootoo should not turn his back on the only certifiable successes he has had in politics – the period when he was a PPP/C stalwart.

Hon. ROBESON BENN
Minister of Public Works