–with Local Content Legislation, Minister Edghill says

THE passage of the landmark Local Content Legislation paves the way for thousands of Guyanese to transform their mere “hustle” into thriving executive businesses, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, has said.

He outlined the opportunities that will follow the promulgation of this legislation during his defence of the document in the National Assembly, on Wednesday, prior to it being signed into law by President Dr. Irfaan Ali.
The minister estimates that in the coming years, the continued growth of the oil and gas industry will result in magnanimous development across every single sector in Guyana.

“It’s not just the people who are going on board or working on the supply vessels; it’s not just the people who are directly linked to operations offshore Guyana,” Edghill said.
He related that already, the aviation sector has begun to see transformation as more and more persons are being shuttled in and out of the country.

“Rotary craft have to be out and in of our airports… more companies will have to come to Guyana to fetch people back and forth, using helicopter services,” Edghill projected.

He reasoned that the influx of visitors, whether for work or play, will undoubtedly increase the demand for a host of services, which will ultimately require a massive scale-up of goods and services across all sectors; this will range from food and transportation to accommodation and cleaning services.

“It means that more people have to be fed, more people need fruits and vegetables, more people stay in hotels need tomatoes and cucumbers,” Minister Edghill said.
He added: “More people have to be accommodated, because when they are on rotations, there must be apartments; there must be places for them to stay.”

The heightened demand for such services will also have a trickle-down effect on various sub-sectors.
“If there are apartments, these apartments need to be maintained; there needs to be landscaping,” Minister Edghill said.

Importantly, the Public Works Minister elaborated on the importance of the agriculture sector, and the need for farmers to step-up in order to fulfill the growing multi-sectoral demands.
“We don’t need the canned stuff coming into Guyana, we need our farmers to be able to provide those services to those places to ensure that they are getting part of the pie,” Edghill said.

He added that Guyana’s overall transformation will require that Guyanese prepare themselves to upgrade from mere employees to sophisticated employers. He, for instance, highlighted the scope for growth in the transportation industry.

“…to the taxi drivers, you must move from just merely a hustle and you must be able to invest in several cars and provide executive services for the oil companies,” Edghill said.

MANDATORY
The Local Content Act outlines 40 sub-sectors which would legally mandate oil companies to procure goods and services as well as employ specific percentages of Guyanese in their day-to-day operations.

For instance, oil companies are now required to ensure that 100 per cent of their ground transportation needs are satisfied by locals. Similar percentages apply to the provision of immigration support services, customs brokerage services, insurance services and visa and work permit services, among other things.

“Service providers, whether it is for hair or nails or all the rest of it, must be local people that are providing that,” Edghill said.

Meanwhile, the minimum local content requirements contained in the legislation relate to engineering and machining, which secures five per cent of opportunities for Guyanese workers in that field, followed by metrology and dredging services at 10 per cent and aviation and borehole testing services at 20 per cent.

Minister Edghill also highlighted the key aspect of the Act which guarantees that Guyanese benefit from continuous training and capacity building in areas such as borehole testing and other services that are not widely done in Guyana.

“Don’t take yuh eyes and pass Guyanese that you go and bring people from Ukraine and Argentina and Peru to do a job, when there are Guyanese here in Guyana who can be trained and developed to do that same job,” Minister Edghill cautioned.

In addition to practical skills, the new piece of legislation also secures training for various high-level jobs.

It has since been promised by several senior government functionaries that as more and more Guyanese are trained, the Local Content Legislation will be updated and amended to ensure that those trained persons are given preference for employment.

Edghill said that it was for this reason that the government moved to table a piece of legislation, as opposed to implementing a Local Content Policy.
The legislation, he reminded, outlines as much as $50 million in fines for oil companies that fail to employ sufficient numbers of Guyanese.

Specific penalties and consequences for breaches of the local content law have been deemed especially important, as the country’s oil and gas potential continues to grow exponentially.