GROUND Structures Engineering Consultants Inc. Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Charles Ceres painted a weak picture of the public debate on the draft Local Content Policy when the University of Guyana – School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) opened its Local Content Forum on Monday.

“The ongoing public debate on local content is focused on issues such as the need to facilitate individual service providers, for instance Aurora Gold Mines use of local aircraft operators and earth moving contractors and in the case of ExxonMobil rental of office space as opposed the construction of their own facility. How does ExxonMobil create and enhance local capabilities that can be transferred to other sectors by hiring of aircraft and earth moving contractors? Local Content, by definition, must not focus on development of individuals and individual businesses. It must focus on the development of capabilities for the long-term development of the country,” he said.

Though acknowledging the move to create a Green State Development Strategy (GSDS), Ceres, in his address to stakeholders at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), said authorities in Guyana are yet to come to grips with what exactly is Local Content.
While Guyana’s draft Local Content Policy is being designed to maximise benefits for the Guyanese people and value retention from Guyana’s petroleum resource through Capacity Development, Local Content and Value Addition, Ceres said the discussions to date leave much to be desired.

“The ongoing debate related to local content, however, has so far had very little focus on actions that will lead to longer-term increase in training in appropriate skills to add to the local labour force which can create and enhance local capabilities that can be transferred to other sectors,” he said.

He stressed that Local Content Policies, in keeping with the 2013 World Bank definition, must bar against the development of disparities between communities. According to a World Bank document titled Local Content Policies in Oil and Gas Sector, Local Content Policies do not only address immediate increases in local content but longer-term increases that would build capacity among the masses.

“Local content ideally must consider all of Guyana and not communities only within the area of influence of the natural resource development as allowed for the World Bank definition. Failure to focus on the development of all of Guyana will lead to concentrated areas of affluence and will fuel disparities between communities,” the CEO argued.
He did not mince words when he reflected on the past, stating that while local content has long existed in Guyana, the policies were merely short term, and as such were not based on a national development framework.

“Hospitals and schools were built and operated by the Demerara Bauxite Company in the then Mackenzie. Bookers Sugar Estates built hospitals in several communities in Guyana including Skeldon. Homes built by the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund exist to this day in several parts of Guyana. These practices however created pockets of affluent areas in Guyana. The fall in the price of bauxite and increased production costs for sugar have seen the decline of communities built on a flawed concept of local content,” Ceres said.
It was noted that while persons who were trained as part of those policies are utilising their skillset and experience to provide critical services in other sectors of the country, local content is not intended to enhance individuals but build capacity.

Turning his attention to climate change, the CEO pointed out that while the rising sea level is a major issue for Guyana, this has failed to gain the attention of those engaging in discussions on local content.

“The public discourse on Local Content policies has incorporated no concerns related to climate adaptation. Holland, Belgium and other low countries have adapted to living below sea level…We must define the skills needed to adapt to anticipated increases in sea levels and identify whether these skills can be acquired as part of the local content initiative,” he stated.

Energy generation, he posited, is another area for consideration when discussing Local Government Policies, adding that mechanisms should be identified to ensure avenues are created to develop the appropriate skills within the natural resources sector.

Additionally, he said, “the application of a sound environmental management policy for the natural resources sector will immediately transfer capacity to the environmental management regimes for value added production in agriculture and forestry. The Local Content Policy should consequently work with resource extraction companies to identify gaps in the environmental compliance framework in Guyana and train persons to fill these gaps.”

In moving forward, he said that the University of Guyana should play an even more active role in the local content policy debate.

At Ground Structures Engineering Consultants Inc, he said, emphasis is placed on building capacities in the field of engineering.

Combating the Dutch Disease, Local Content and Economic Growth and Skilled Development and Knowledge Transfer through Local Content Policy were among other areas up for discussion on Monday. FUGRO, a stakeholder, and engineers attached at Ground Structures were among those who shared success stories of how human capacities are being built and transferred to other sectors.

The two-day forum being held under the theme “Local Content: A Mechanism for Capacity Building towards Enhanced National Development,” was organised by SEBI in collaboration with Ground Structures, FUGRO, Aurora Gold Mines, GTT and WorleyParsons. UG’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Ivelaw Griffith and Dean of the School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation, Professor Leyland Lucas were among the officials present.