Dear Mr Editor,

I WAS very happy and delighted to read the Saturday, April 23, 2016 edition of the Guyana Chronicle, especially the article captioned “Guyana to receive £53.2 million from UK”.The article caught my attention, so I decided to read it to see what it was for, and found it to be for Infrastructure Development, something that Guyana really needs if it is to achieve its potential.

I then remembered that, recently, the India Government provided Guyana with US $50 million for Infrastructure Development also.

As I read this article, several things crossed my mind, and what kept coming to my mind more was the need for civil society and private sector involvement in the conceptualization, consultation and design of these infrastructure projects for Guyana. The donor and funding agencies for any projects should make civil society and private sector involvement a criterion before releasing any funds to any country.

Moreover, some of these infrastructure development projects can be public/private partnership projects.

I can vividly remember that when the IADB was making the funds available for the East Bank Demerara Road Expansion Project -– Providence to Diamond — several public consultations were done with civil society and the private sector. Although the Grove to Diamond Project is a major failure, at the conceptualization and design phase, civil society and the private sector had opportunities to be part of the project and provide significant inputs into it. The shortcoming with this project is the provision of progress reports to the public on regular intervals and on a continuous basis, along with the challenges that the project faces to meet the completion deadline during the implementation phase.

The project was stalled and now restarted, and no public disclosure (correct me if I am wrong here, and direct me where I can find these disclosures) was made on the extension cost; whether the defunct contractors got paid, and how much was paid to them; liquidated damages for the breaches of contracts in regard to completion dates, etc.

The IADB had started a civil society forum which was aimed at developing vibrant and organized civil society organizations in Guyana. Also, CARICOM was working on a Civil Society Charter for the Caribbean, so as to make Caribbean civil society vibrant and very vocal on public matters and interests, to make governments more accountable to their citizens.

I am yet to see whatever happen to these initiatives, and the status of it should be made public; and if they are still in process after so many years, information and awareness is severely lacking.

Guyana and Guyanese have long being suffering for progressive development to upgrade their standard of living; and with the involvement and inclusion of all, this can be realized earliest.

For Guyana to make progress, there is dire need for the involvement of all in national development in a bottom-up approach. Guyanese have to be more vibrant and get more involved in a more formal way, to have their economic and social concerns addressed.

President Granger has been talking about this on a regular basis, and has illustrated his commitment by having Local Government Election held, established more municipalities in Guyana. And he has given Guyanese the assurance that he would ensure that every region has its own town. He also highlighted that he would like to see Regional Government become more autonomous, and all government services being provided in each region — something that has to be done with a strategic roll-out plan.

I also attended a public forum recently at the St Stanislaus College in Brickdam, Georgetown, and heard the Minister of State speaking about facilitating the establishment of community development councils (CDCs) all across Guyana. The Minister’s presentation was very interesting and seems to provide a very good opportunity for every citizen’s voice to be heard, and for every citizen to be involved in the economic development of the communities and his/her own livelihood. The establishment of these CDCs will also provide a platform and structure to address social and economic illness within communities, one not manipulated for other reasons.

I think the APNU-AFC Government has an opportunity to become a government that would command the respect of its citizens once it becomes more transparent and accountable, and provide equal opportunities, respect freedom of speech, and respect and adopt professional and technical opinions.

Also, Guyanese, with support from donor and funding agencies, can make governments become more transparent and accountable if they develop and implement policies for public disclosures and make it mandatory for civil society and the private sector to be involved in all phases on national projects.

Governments and donor and funding agencies can also benefit significantly from highly professional and technical inputs from the involvement of civil society and private sector, at no cost to the government.

Based on the above, the Government should start developing — if one does not already exist — a National Infrastructure Development Plan for the next 5 years, with the involvement of civil society and private sector. This plan must incorporate Cost Benefit Analyses, Return on Investments via the incremental economic activities that will arise as a direct result of these investments, and revenue generation for Government via direct and indirect taxation, etc. There should also be a framework for regular meetings, and update with regard to the implementation, execution, and challenges of these projects.

The adaption of such a methodology will see Government and its citizens enjoying more value for money, and all projects will be beneficial and not be left lying as white elephants, as some development projects in Guyana.

In concluding, I am appealing to the Government and the donor and funding agencies to start involving civil society and the private sector on a more vibrant and constructive basis.
Sincerely,
ROUBINDER RAMBARRAN, MBA
Business Development Consultant
Email: bdmsguy@gmail.com