By Svetlana Marshall

SINCE its presentation on January 29, Budget 2016 has been a trending topic, gaining the support of the masses, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said, as he wound up the debates on Friday evening in the absence of the Opposition.“Budget 2016 is a pro-working class budget,” he said, while alluding to sentiments expressed by former President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Clinton Williams, who was quoted in the Monday, February 1, 2016 edition of the Guyana Chronicle under a report dubbed “People’s Budget – Private Sector hails Budget as pro-working class.”

Williams had told this newspaper that the $230B budget sets the stage for the “good life” that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government envisions for the people of Guyana.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) have also thrown their support behind the budget.

Addressing the concerns raised during the debates, the Finance Minister said it would appear as though the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) either did not read the budget in full or does not understand the particulars of the financial document.

The Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, before staging yet another walkout, told the House that the APNU+AFC Government continues to undermine the Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project by pushing to have a power purchase agreement signed with a private developer for a US$50M Wind Farm at Hope Beach.

But Minister Jordan, in his quest to offer greater clarity, alluded to his earlier statements during which he told the House that the Amaila Falls Hydro Power Project is not viable in its current state, and that the Government of Guyana and the Kingdom of Norway are currently engaged in discussions for a final review and determination of the future of the project.

Additionally, the Government proposes to prioritise the construction of four mini-hydro power stations at Kamaira, Kumu, Tumatumari and Tiger Hill.

It was also a common cry of the Opposition that the Government had repackaged many of the Opposition party’s projects, but the Finance Minister, in flipping back the pages of history, recalled that the PPP/C, during its early years in Government, had executed many of the projects and programmes initiated by the People’s National Congress (PNC).

“This PPP Government, in that 23 years, in the first four-five years, were implementing projects that were set up by the PNC!” he told the House.

NATURE OF BUSINESS
He added: “We are not blaming them or telling them anything about that, because that is the nature of the business! You can’t just come in and dump projects that have already started.”

Rhetorically, he asked, “What is wrong with Government moving ahead with projects that have already attracted significant funds and continue to take up the fiscal space, thereby preventing Government from initiating projects of its own?” However, he said Government is already experiencing enormous problems with many of the projects.

The Finance Minister pointed out that the US$65M were already advanced to the contractor for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Expansion and Modernisation Project before the APNU+AFC Government took Office.

“Go there and see if you see US$65M of work done at CJIA,” Minister Jordan urged.

The contentious Specialty Hospital was among projects placed in the limelight during the heated debates. “US$4.3M down the drain,” the Finance Minister said, while alluding to the project.
According to him, the project was manipulated to give someone who does not even have the knowhow to build a “health hut”, much less a specialty hospital.

The project, to which a US$18M loan was acquired, was awarded by the PPP/C Government to Surendra Engineering in 2012, but was subsequently terminated by the same Government following allegations of fraud.

The APNU+AFC Government, upon entering office, had asked the EXIM Bank of India to cancel the Line of Credit (LOC) for the Specialty Hospital and to reallocate the balance of funds to a project to modernise three primary healthcare facilities, but the Government of India (GoI), in its response, while indicating its no-objection and support for the modernisation of primary healthcare facilities, suggested that GoG should consider salvaging the Specialty Hospital as it will complement primary healthcare facilities in Guyana.

Minister Jordan told the House that the proposal put by the Government allows for both projects to be completed and an additional US$14M secured.

Complementing the proposal put by India, the Finance Minister said Fedders Lloyd, one of the initial bidders for the project, has signalled its interest in having the project completed.

TO THE RESCUE
“The people who know about building specialty hospitals…they came to our rescue, they came to our rescue…they say come hell or high water they will do it,” he posited.

In November, 2015, the Finance Minister had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Fedders Lloyd for the construction of the Specialty Hospital. Fedders Lloyd, in entering the MoU, will review the works already started; conclude for the hospital a design that is acceptable to the Government; and commit to fully equip the facility on completion of its construction.

Work on the Specialty Hospital was halted after allegations of impropriety and fraud had been levelled against Surendra Engineering – the contractor who had won the bid for its construction in 2012.

Updating the House on the project, Minister Jordan disclosed that, on Friday morning, the new design was submitted by Fedders Lloyd. “Using the piles that they met there, they were able to readjust the design,” he said.