Dear Editor,
I AM aghast that Francis Newton, real or fictitiously named, was allowed space to pen in the Apr 08, Kaieteur News, the letter, “The general population does not have confidence in Jagdeo to execute what might be a US$500M white elephant.” This whimsical penman was referring to Guyana’s gas-to-shore project, which is under the watchful eyes of Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Seeking some form of credence, Newton cites, in a most flippant manner, a number of past projects which he simply denounces without any proper analysis, and deems them failures and attributable to Jagdeo, and by extension the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

The list highlights these four: the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project; the Skeldon Sugar Factory; expansion of the CJIA runway and airport; and the East Coast road-widening project.
My first query for Mr. Newton is, “Has he actually surveyed the populace to speak so authoritatively? Can he authenticate how he arrived at his sweeping conclusion that is being reflected in the title of his letter (“The general population does not have confidence in Jagdeo to execute what might be a US$500M white elephant.”).
Time and space will not permit me a detailed response to debunk him on all of the projects he listed, but I hope that he will go back after this schooling to re-examine all the projects he mentioned.

Now let us invite our readers to revisit the Amaila Falls project.
I do recall that the said Amaila Falls project, spearheaded by VP Jagdeo, was and still is a part of a global model, in which Norway partnered with Guyana to provide up to US$250 million by 2015.

This was for the prevention of greenhouse gas emissions from Guyana’s forest. So groundbreaking was this project that the Climate & Development Knowledge Network, the UK-based climate policy network, pronounced that this was “maybe the most progressive low-carbon development strategy in a low-income country.”
Readers can go back and trace its genesis, when in November 2009, the then President Bharrat Jagdeo and the former Minister of the Environment and International Development of Norway, Hon. Erik Solheim, signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
So, the hasty condemnation of such a unique global-changing concept and project smacks of insult to the ‘vast majority’ of Guyanese Newton is not speaking for, and it also flies in the face of Norway. Let me add some more helpful elucidation.

In monitoring the happenings in the incipient stages, Norway actually commended Guyana on its climate-change leadership role and was expecting to conclude the agreement that was aimed at funding to help in ‘deforestation’ and the promoting of a ‘forest degradation model’ that was daily winning greater international recognition and endorsement at the time.
On the subject of the gas-to-shore project, Newton (if he actually exists), must’ve been asleep when Trinidad and Tobago’s former Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine said that it is feasible for Guyana and is not likely to result in any significant addition to the cost-recovery pool. Cheaper Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG); cheaper electricity by 40 per cent-50 per cent; savings in foreign exchange and President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s vision of Guyana establishing a gas-to-shore plant and some of the many benefits Ramnarine listed. Ramnarine is not alone, as this view is shared by United States-based Guyanese financial analyst Floyd Haynes. Haynes is quoted as saying that natural gas at half the cost of Guyana’s current Heavy Fuel Oil rate cannot only reduce environmental pollution significantly, but the benefits derived would serve as spin-offs and will also provide a boost for other developmental areas.
So, Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo is not alone with regard to his confidence in the success of the gas-to-shore project.

There are many others like myself, who are confident in the VP’s handling of this critical venture and this confidence is a result of his track record demonstrated during 12 successful years in the country’s leadership that is unmatched.

Yours faithfully,
Anson A Paul