– as Government officials get tour of facility

MINISTER of Finance, Winston Jordan has said that local machinery giants, General Equipment Guyana Ltd (GENEQUIP)’s latest investment in Guyana shows the expression of confidence in the local economy.

GENEQUIP was founded in 1992 and commenced business in the sales and service of new equipment in Guyana and in the wider Caribbean.

The company recently invested over US$2 million into the construction and development of a new facility at the Houston Industrial Site.

“It shows the expression of confidence in the economy, that they could have built a third property like this,” said Jordan subsequent to a tour of the facility, on Monday.
Jordan was joined by Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman; Minister of Business, Haimraj Rajkumar; and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Go-Invest, Owen Verwey.
The finance minister said the new complex boasts modern equipment and a well organised set of operations. “The company supplies two top sectors in Guyana, mining and agriculture…they also do work for various other enterprises in Guyana…they bring in certain types of equipment and office pieces,” said Jordan.

The company, he said, also holds vibrant training for persons. They teach them how to operate and service modern equipment. One of GENEQUIP’s trainers recently brought third in a world competition, beating places like the US, Canada and Europe and coming third to China and Indonesia.

“That says a lot for the quality of the people and once given the right training and guidance, we can excel not only in Guyana but in the Caribbean and the rest of the world,” said Jordan.

He said the company should focus on employing and training persons from within the South Ruimveldt community, since the area was established with the concept of having housing and creating commercial projects which would provide employment for people.
Operations Manager of GENEQUIP, Schelte Van Dijk said the company has been partnering with the Government Technical Institute and other state organisations like the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) to provide training.

“We train teachers and take on as many students as we can for direct employment, vacation work and internship,” said Van Dijk.

He said the partnerships are significant because equipment do not maintain itself, so they are training young people to maintain equipment for agriculture, mining and power generation.