…as govt readies final draft of policy for year-end

The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) has joined the call for Local Content Legislation that is enforceable and clear-driven by the imperatives of the creation of Local Jobs, Knowledge Transfers, skills training, capacity building and international accredited certification.

In a release on Tuesday the body said “we are strongly of the view that a critical evaluation should be undertaken of all foreign based companies that have been provided with concessions by GO-INVEST and the Government. We urge the Government of Guyana to do so in order to ascertain whether there exists any Guyanese Company that have been and/or will be disadvantaged as it relates to unfair competition particularly within our Manufacturing and Services Sectors and beyond.”

According to the GMSA local manufacturers continue to face the hardship of being unable to enjoy the same benefits as foreigners entering into the country primarily to maximise the benefits associated with the new oil and gas industry. For this reason, the GMSA said it would like that emphasis should be placed on the need to derive more benefits from Guyana’s natural resources. It is therefore imperative for policymakers to include robust provisions in our local content policy to ensure the full maximization of local resources across Guyana.

“We acknowledge the help and support to the CLDB and its dedicated mostly Guyanese Staff in certifying Guyanese Companies in addition to its advertising portal. The GMSA strongly recommend that the objective of local content policy should revolve around definitive short-term benefits of natural resource extraction into long-term local economic development outcomes through capacity building, institutional strengthening via strategic policy intervention to promote domestic economic linkages, creation of employment and the participation of local Small and Medium-scaled Enterprises (SMEs) in the value chain through the supply of goods and services to the sector.”

The GMSA said laying a solid foundation for the implementation of local content policies through appropriate legal and regulatory framework is imperative if the desired outcomes are to be achieved. “To date we have observed that there is no dedicated monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and/or institutions empowered with regulatory authority and autonomy to ensure the implementation of local content policy in Guyana. As such, the GMSA believes that an independent Commission should be an obvious body to remedy this anomaly. In this context GMSA supports the formation of a Local Content Commission to ensure that the intended goals are achieved and for necessary policy adjustments to be made if and when these become necessary.”

“In order to ensure that the intended objectives of National Development is realized via a pertinent and realistic Local Content Policy in operation, we wish to politely recommend to the Government of Guyana to take a hard look at the GHANIAN MODEL OF LOCAL CONTENT LEGISLATION and its accompanying procedures and institutions. We remain committed to the encouragement of FDIs and look forward to working with all stakeholders in this regard in an equitable, fair and measurable way,” the GMSA said.

Final draft before year-end

Earlier this month Director of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe disclosed that Guyana’s final Local Content Policy Draft could be finalised by the end of 2019. In the meantime, he said the Department of Energy (DoE) is working along with international oil and gas companies to develop local content plans.

Bynoe, said that the document has received much feedback from a number of stakeholders and is now moving towards finalisation. The policy framework is meant to outline the guidelines by which local content will be understood, developed, measured, secured and implemented in Guyana’s petroleum sector. It takes into consideration the urgent need for optimization of revenues received from oil to benefit Guyana’s economy and citizens, present and future.

“We did receive feedback from the Private Sector Commission(PSC), Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), the insurance association of Guyana and a number of others and so we’re looking at those comments and ensuring that we’re making the policy more contextually relevant to Guyana,” Dr. Bynoe said. “What we are setting out here is a framework for engagement and allowing the Guyanese private sector and others not only to access businesses but also for technology transfers as well as to allow for the capacity building that is necessary if Guyana is to have a greater share of the local content pie.”
Dr. Bynoe shut down the notion that there is nothing catering to local content existing currently in Guyana, by reminding that Guyana’s existing Petroleum Agreement mandates that the operator provide an annual local content plan to be approved by the Government. He assured that the (DoE) is treating Guyana as a unique country with unique needs and expectations which must rightfully be met.

“We will do what is fit for purpose now, and, as Guyana builds further, it ultimately will go through revisions; that’s just the nature of the sector that we’re treating with,” he said. In the interim, he said the (DoE) has been encouraging joint ventures to better allow Guyanese to participate in the sector and raise their own standards
Meanwhile, ESSO Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, is working along with the Ministry of Education’s Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). The company intends to implement two pilot projects in first quarter 2020 to build capacity at technical institutions in New Amsterdam and Linden. Youths will be trained in the area of slinging and rigging, scaffolding, welding and fabrication, flange and borehole expertise, static training, facility maintenance and more.

Bynoe had also indicated that “The last Local Content reported indicated that over 13,000 Guyanese are currently employed in the sector. Additionally, since 2015, over 300 million has been spent by EEPGL and its co-contractors on Guyanese contractors and service providers.”