HINTERLAND DEVELOPMENT

* OVER $4B will be invested in support of the Plan of Action for Hinterland Development. In excess of $280M has been allocated to promote economic prosperity, tourism development, and preserving cultural identity. This sum is inclusive of grants for 211 indigenous communities that will build village economies and fund eco-tourism projects specifically for our nation’s 50th independence anniversary celebration.

* Some $1B has been budgeted for the Hinterland Employment and Youth Service (HEYS) project. This year, the project will provide training for more than 1,000 hinterland youths in areas such as garment construction, carpentry, joinery, and entrepreneurship.

* School uniforms will be provided for over 30,000 schoolchildren at a cost of over $89M; over 450 hinterland students will benefit from the Hinterland Scholarship Programme.

* Over $2B has been allocated for the establishment and improvement of physical infrastructure throughout the hinterland regions, to help narrow the gap in living standards of residents of the coastal and hinterland regions.

* Electricity systems in St Cuthbert’s Mission, Region Four; Orealla and Siparuta, Region Six; and Culvert City, Region Nine, will be extended.

$3.1B for E-services in hinterland
* Through the Guyana REDD+Investment Fund (GRIF), about $3.1 B will be allocated for ICT Access and E-Services for the Hinterland, Poor and Remote Communities Project.

* This year, the Government has allocated an initial $25B for the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT).

* 400 entrepreneurs will be targeted to benefit from training under the Micro and Small Enterprise Development (MSED) initiative.

* It has been projected that GO-Invest will facilitate some 160 new investments, worth a total of $11B.

* Industrial estates at Belvedere and Lethem will be built and upgraded, catering for light manufacturing, woodworking and fabrication, creating over 3,000 new jobs.

PRODUCTION TRANSFORMATION AND AGRICULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION
* $20.3B has been allocated to the agricultural sector to create an economic environment in which farming and agro-processing operations can grow the economy and create employment. To this end, in excess of $598M has been allocated to enhance diversified agriculture in the hinterland and riverine communities and in the Intermediate and Rupununi savannahs.

* $9B will be injected into GuySuCo to assist its recovery and modernisation programme.

* The cattle industry will be energised through the development of a milk pasteurisation plant. Additionally, plans are underway for the development of 4,000 acres of state lands situated in Region Nine for the purpose of constructing an agriculture station.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICIT
* $14.4B has been allocated to continue the upgrade, expansion and rehabilitation of our network of roads and bridges.

* In addition, $5B has been allocated for the reconstruction of Sheriff Street, so as to facilitate improved traffic-safety features, including pedestrian overhead crossings at strategic locations.

* A US$50M loan will be signed with the Government of India to construct a new road link between Ogle, on the East Coast of Demerara, and Diamond, on the East Bank of Demerara.

* Some $2.3B will be invested to upgrade the West Coast Demerara Road from Parika to Vreed-en-Hoop. The works include widening the corridor and improving road-safety features.

* A total of $6.72B has been allocated for the improvement of hinterland, rural and urban community roads in Bartica, Mahdia, Ituni/Kwakwani, Puruni/Itaballi, Mabaruma and Port Kaituma/Baramita and the Sophia ring road, among others.

* An amount of $1.3B haS been budgeted for works to commence on the rehabilitation of the Bartica stelling and the goods wharf at Kingston; docking of dredges and ferry vessels; dredging of the Demerara and Essequibo rivers; and installation and maintenance of navigational aids.
* Works will begin on a phased waterfront development programme over the next five years. This investment, estimated to cost over $1.6B, will see the development of state-of-the-art waterfront facilities, which will be on par with those in the Caribbean. This development will target Kitty, Kingston, Stabroek, Vreed-en-Hoop, Supenaam and Skeldon.

* An allocation of $5.2 B has been made for the continued development of the air services industry, including the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

* Government has negotiated sea and river defence programmes amounting to over $6B, to erect and strengthen our bulwarks as well as to fashion a comprehensive instrument for coexisting harmoniously with our ocean and rivers.

ENERGY
* Government is currently collaborating with the IDB to define an energy matrix that will determine the best blend of energy options to ultimately boost the resilience of the energy sector. A draft of this matrix has been completed and it is expected to be finalised this year. One option that has been presented in the matrix is the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, which was determined by the coalition government to be not viable in its current configuration.

* Government proposes to prioritise the construction of four mini-hydro power stations at Kamaira, Kumu, Tumatumari and Tiger Hill, which will contribute to development efforts in the communities identified for upgrade to towns.

* Some $2.5B will be invested in initiatives to improve GPL’s operational management capabilities. Approximately 830km of the main distribution network will be rehabilitated, with a focus on reducing electricity losses and improving the safety and reliability of the electrical system.

* Government is negotiating a power purchase agreement with a private developer for a US$50M wind farm at Hope Beach. This facility is expected to provide an additional 25 megawatts of power to the national grid.

ENVIRONMENT AND PROTECTED AREAS
* Government has committed to develop a comprehensive project, costing over $1.5B, to fund the development of the botanical and zoological parks and protected areas.

* Some $114M will be invested to improve public facilities in our urban parks.

* A sum of $200M is anticipated to provide for the construction of a new building for the EPA, $40M of which has been allocated in this year’s budget to conclude the design and commence construction.

GOVERNANCE AND JUSTICE
* During this year, the Governance Office will coordinate and fast-track the process for establishing the Public Procurement Commission, and will be pro-active in enacting a code of conduct for ministers of government and parliamentarians

* Over the medium term, $1B will be invested in strengthening the justice sector.

Building Sustainable Communities
* $4B has been allocated this year to improve and expand access to water across Guyana. Areas that will be targeted for water supply and line-distribution improvements and expansion include Paramakatoi; Mahdia; Mabaruma; Port Kaituma; Hubu to Naamless; Waiakabra; Yarrowkabra; Area ‘C’, Golden Grove; Victoria; Lusignan; Le Ressouvenir; Vryheid’s Lust; Albouystown; West La Penitence; Baramita; Parakees; Canal Bank; Belladrum; Lovely Lass; Itaballi and Tiger Pond. Over 18,000 persons are expected to benefit from these improvements, while another 11,000 persons will benefit from the rehabilitation of water-treatment plants at Cotton Tree and Bartica.
* New wells are earmarked for Vergenoegen and Lima Sands, while a ground-storage facility will be installed in Sophia. Some $2B has been allocated for the drilling of new wells at Uitvlugt, Diamond and Sheet Anchor. Further, a programme costing $5.6B is being designed that will see new water-treatment plants constructed at Friendship, Hope Estate, Bush Lot, Leguan, Bartica, Port Kaituma, Mabaruma and other locations in Regions Two and Six.

* A further $200M is to be allocated to the Georgetown Restoration Programme, while another $319M will be expended on the Solid Waste Disposal Management programme.

* New housing developments will commence in areas such as Perseverance, Stewartville, Cummings Lodge, Prospect, Williamsburg and Amelia’s Ward.

* In the hinterland regions, some $644M will be spent to expand the Hinterland Housing Project.

* $4.2B has been earmarked to assist in developing the four communities identified to be upgraded to township; namely Mabaruma, Bartica, Mahdia and Lethem.

BANK OF GUYANA
* The Bank of Guyana will license cambios located outside of Georgetown; will conduct a study on implementing deposit insurance in Guyana, with the goal of rolling out a deposit-guarantee scheme by 2017; will examine the feasibility of agency banking, which would allow local non-banks to provide some financial services; collaborate with the IMF and the World Bank to undertake a financial sector assessment; move towards Basel II implementation, which will strengthen the regulatory framework governing banks and also result in Guyana aligning its capital requirements with internationally recommended best practices; and enhance the National Financial Literacy Programme.

National Insurance Scheme
* Government intends to examine options for repayment of $5.24B owed by CLICO.

* Management will be targeting delinquent businesses and employers, in order to recover the $1.3B in arrears owed to the Scheme.

SAFEGUARDING PUBLIC SECURITY
* Community-level crime-prevention action will target 20 communities based on homicide, burglary, robbery and domestic violence rates; while vulnerability will be addressed through social-prevention interventions.

* A total of $24.6B has been allocated for development and modernisation of the security sector.

PRODUCING A WELL-ROUNDED, LIFE-LONG LEARNER
* 28,000 pairs of footwear will be distributed in the first quarter of this year, primarily within our hinterland and riverine areas, and this will complement the $424.2M that has been budgeted for the continuation of the school uniform programme, that will benefit over 204,000 children attending schools in the hinterland and on the coastland.

* $1.9B to be spent on the National School Feeding Programme to cater for hot meals to be given to over 7,000 additional hinterland students.

* 415 teachers will be trained this year.

* A sum of $4.3B has been allocated to continue infrastructural construction, rehabilitation and repairs.

Included in this programme is completion of the Kato Secondary Complex, which is intended to ease the overcrowding at Paramakatoi and provide full secondary education for many students in primary tops.

* Over $80M has been allocated for the provision of adequate accommodation for hinterland teachers, one of the key impediments to deploying trained teachers to the hinterland.

* Under the Secondary Education Improvement Project, a total of 1,125 tablets will be distributed to Seventh Grade students and math teachers in eight pilot schools, facilitating better learning outcomes through the use of technology.

* $3.2B, a 52 percent increase, will be given as a first step to making the University of Guyana a true institution of higher learning.

HEALTH FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
* $28B for Health Sector
* Government intends to mount a commission of inquiry and develop an emergency suicide-prevention plan of action.

* A Psychiatry programme is to be introduced at the University of Guyana, as well as the establishment of a mental health secretariat to offer training and services to both professionals and those seeking mental health services.

* Over $89M is earmarked for expansion of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) maternity unit.

* Over $6.5 B has been budgeted for drugs and related consumable medical supplies, to address the expanding range of services and coverage being given to citizens countrywide.

* $1.9B for mobilisation for construction of the state-of-the-art specialty surgical hospital at Liliendaal; a 10-bed cardiac theatre and intensive care unit at the GPHC; various works at hospitals at Port Kaituma, Kwakwani and Linden; and diagnostic centres at Diamond and Leonora. Additionally, over $1B will be spent on the purchase and maintenance of medical equipment, double the allocation of last year.

YOUTH
* Government will work to establish a more permanent funding structure for entrepreneurship and micro-lending for persons under 30, as a special Youth Investment Fund.

* The Family Commission, in collaboration with the Child Protection Agency, will create family-friendly and educationally-interactive child-friendly spaces, at which there will also be support for families with children who have developmental disabilities.

* the Child Care and Protection Agency will also be launching a National Early Childhood Development Sensitisation Programme for parents and caregivers, with the aim of providing the relevant knowledge and skills to support early learning.

TAX REFORM
* THE Tax Review Committee, charged with coming up with a range of recommendations to improve the system, submitted their report on January 18, 2016, which was too late for Cabinet to consider and pronounce on all of the recommendations.

* Government will lobby GRA to intensify its efforts at undertaking evaluations of tax revenues by impact of exemptions, economic centres and economic sectors.

* Where tax refunds are to be granted by GRA, the taxpayers must get them on time, unless there is good reason to delay the refund.

* Government will enable small businesses to build tax impact models into their business plans, so that they have a true sense of the cash flows needed to successfully operate their businesses.