MINISTER within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, has said that nothing the government does is by chance and noted that plans are carefully crafted to ensure that the speed of development of the non-oil sectors matches the speed with which Guyana’s oil and gas sector is growing.

The minister made these remarks at the recently concluded Local Content Summit as he participated in a panel discussion which focused on local content for the oil and gas sector as a driver of economic expansion.

According to Minister Indar, when the government was fighting to enact local content, people were saying that the legislation would stymie the development and slow up the speed of the sector. Since then, there has been rapid growth, he said.

As it is currently, he said that with several supply vessels offshore along with several FPSOs and drill ships, there are thousands of people moving back and forth.

With this level and kind of operation offshore Guyana, the infrastructure minister added that there needs to be support for those persons in various areas like warehousing, transport and logistics and accommodation to ensure that these operations run smoothly.

“So, you have to build the infrastructure. The infrastructure is not just the roads and the bridges; it’s in the hotels, in the housing… you need to build shore bases, you need to build all the infrastructure onshore and that is what has been happening,” he remarked.

Against this backdrop, he gave an example and stated that Guyana’s roadways were not designed for these intense onshore operations and as a result, everything has to be recalibrated from the planning for moving and transport to ensuring that roads are now able to withstand the weight of cargo and trucks that aid in the work of the sector.

Minister Indar added that government is looking at the country’s development is a holistic manner.

“Nothing is by chance. Everything that we do, we look at what is going on and we ensure that we craft the plans. We ensure the speed of development in terms of the oil and gas sector is matched by the speed of development in the other sectors. There are some lags and unevenness in it but they will iron out itself as we go along but it is something that is looked at holistically,” he emphasised.