NATIONAL planning emerges from a country’s national policy, and that policy is supported by programmes cutting across regions, and in some cases developed specifically to meet the needs of a respective region, town, community, or demographic.

In the past, Guyana, as a young nation, recruited planners with an array of skills, which included disciplines across the spectrum.
Such an approach was to ensure that when an idea emerges it fits into the national policy by meeting all the needs, be it culturally appropriate, economically feasible, and the benefit to be derived by the residents and group.

Taking the approach of planning minimises the risk of ending up with projects that do not serve the community’s needs or meet acceptable standards of operating within the scope of a country’s limited resources. For instance, there are specific areas of concern/interest to citizens, such as the acquisition of houses, potable water and reliable electricity.

Recent information from the Central Housing and Planning Authority revealed that a significant number of house lots assigned over considerable periods remain unoccupied. Had Government taken the approach of engaging in in-depth thought and analysis into the distribution before action was taken, the nation would have been aware that while many are desperate to acquire their own home, for various reasons they could not build it. Some of these may include access to financing and ability to finance a mortgage, absence of infrastructural framework and basic utilities in the designated areas, distance from work and the cost for transportation.

During the period when national planning comprised personnel with an array of social and technical disciplines, the nation benefited from structured housing development schemes that realised the emergence of areas such as North and South Ruimveldt, Festival City, and several others across the country. The benefit of this is that these areas were built with the objective of fostering communities and establishing new homesteads and economic opportunities.

The act of denuding the State Planning Commission and Secretariat of its planning role and skills opened the country to programmes that have not been well thought out, and delivered limited benefits to receiving communities and demographics. The agency was tasked the responsibility of examining ideas emerging from communities and the government, and advise both as to the feasibility, or absence thereof, of the project.

It also performed the duty of continuous analyses of the strengths and weaknesses that emerged during implementation, which presented opportunity for minimising errors in future projects. In addition to the foregoing, there was also the coordinating of local programmes based on national policy. This coordination included the Social Partners (Government, employers organisation and trade union) along with members from communities who were allowed input in conceptualising, planning and development of programmes and projects.

The agency may not have been perfect, and overtime would have required improvement, as with every institution. This is recognised and understood. That being said, there can be no denying that structures can better guide decision-making, given the reliance of evidence-based approaches/science and inclusivity that lead to making the best use of limited resources.

The absence of such an institution creates disjointed approach to planning, leading to hodgepodge decision-making and the wastage of resources. Society can recount several instances where decisions were made that resulted in wastage of resources, given that the projects were not properly conceptualised and executed.
Hodgepodge approaches also create opportunities to front massive corruption, as against a planning institution where systems are in place to ensure thorough examination from conceptualisation to implementation.

The world is becoming more complex, with competition among interests increasing as resources remain limited. In such an environment, in order to meet the diverse needs of the people and for development to take place, it requires doing so through structured and scientific approaches. As such, it may be necessary in this phase of the nation’s evolution to revisit the utility in establishing an appropriate national planning agency.