AN internationally branded plantain chip factory to be located in Parika, East Bank Essequibo, is among a number of massive private business ventures coming to Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), as the region continues to grow into a major economic hub for the country.

Members of the region’s business community recently had a chance to discuss their proposals and plans during meetings with a number of government officials at an Office of the President Regional Outreach that concluded on Friday at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora.

Driven by the huge roll out of public and private infrastructure investments in the region, private investment proposals continue to come from investors in the region, and the government is working along with the region’s private sector to facilitate growth.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday at the conclusion of the outreach, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali described the region as a “high energy environment”, and highlighted the amount of business proposals seen at the outreach.

“[There is] a lot of pleasant excitement about where the region is going and where the country is going. A lot of optimism, a lot of confidence and I would say it’s a high energy environment. What I have seen is the confidence in the development of this region, triggering a lot of investment proposals, a lot of business interests and more persons wanting to own their own homes in this region,” President Ali said.

He added, “In terms of business, there are many proposals that are brought to us from aquaculture, the hydroponics, large scale agriculture, hotels, apartments, real estate on the whole, supermarkets, small manufacturing facility. As a matter of fact, very soon we’ll be opening an internationally branded plantain chip factory here in this region that will be adding value to plantains that is being produced here.

“So, there are a lot of proposals that came to us that we were able to pass to the Go-Invest investors. The Minister of Finance is following up on a lot of this.”

The President noted that the government is working to keep up with the region’s growth momentum.

“The whole infrastructure push and transformation is creating new challenges that we are ahead of, that we are building for,” the President remarked.

The government is also placing emphasis on the region’s education system to ensure that the development align with its growth.

“We are trying to create infrastructure in the school system that encourages learning, that promote learning. The student population is growing rapidly in this region, this may be one of the fastest growing school populations in terms of schools in the region and we are expanding those schools, we are extending, we are looking at new ways in fast tracking the building of new schools also,” the President noted.

With plans in place to establish a gas-to-energy project, works on a US$300 million shore base facility, new private and public hospitals, the creation of a number of housing schemes, and the construction of two four-lane highways in the works, Region Three has long since been identified as a hub for investment opportunities in Guyana.

Moreover, the establishment of the New Harbour Bridge connecting Region Three to Region Four has also been projected to drive investment opportunities in the West Demerara area, since capital and economic actives in Region Four will become more accessible.

“Investors normally follow the money and development,” Chief Investment Officer of Go-Invest, Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, reasoned as he explained the ongoing prosperity in the region.

“The investments are all good indicators of the economic boom in the region as government implements it’s transformative projects.”

Dr. Ramsaroop noted that he has been working ensure that Go-Invest plays its role in promoting the growth in Region Three.

“The Guyana Office for investment has been working with investors in all sectors to promote long term investments in agro processing and especially the hospitality sector to get ready for the agro and manufacturing boom as the Gas-to-Shore comes on line,” Dr. Ramsaroop noted.