–President Ali says; urges more private sector investment, collaboration

BILLIONS in investments would be required annually for the Caribbean region to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali has said.

Stressing the need for the regional private sector to be more proactive, President Ali, during remarks at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF) being held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre here in Georgetown, Guyana, on Wednesday evening said that while governments are committed to meeting development targets, massive gaps in funding highlight the need for more private-public partnerships.

Providing an analysis of these gaps, Dr. Ali informed those gathered that an annual average of US$373 billion, 0.5 per cent of the regional Gross Development Product (GDP) is required to address one of the dire sustainable goals: Ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation.

According to President Ali, new infrastructure in the water and sanitation sector will require about US$256 billion. US$90.6 billion is needed to improve access to safely-managed drinking water, while some US$148 billion will be needed to improve access to safely-managed sanitation, and US$16.8 billion for sewerage treatment. Additionally, US$177 billion would be required to maintain existing assets.

“This is the financing gap as it is now. How do we mobilise capital?” President Ali asked.

“What opportunity this brings for the public private partnerships for developing models that can work in the interest of achieving the SDGs but also can be profitable for private sector. We have to deploy private capital, and deploy the best model,” he added.

The SDGs are a shared blueprint of an urgent call for action by all countries, developed and developing, to address improving people’s lives, reducing inequality, and spurring economic growth.

ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY
Further, to provide universal access to electricity, and begin decarbonization, the region will require some US$577 billion.

Dr. Ali, in his analysis, noted that of this amount, new infrastructure will require just about US$396 billion, of which US$371 billion is required for generation and transmission.

Meanwhile, he recommends that the remaining US$180 billion go to maintaining existing assets, and replacing assets that are obsolescent.

“Right here in Guyana,” he said, “we have a transmission system that is aged; totally incapable of meeting the demands and needs of the country. Our generation capacity is not close to fulfilling the imminent demand that is growing exponentially every single day.”

TRANSPORATION
In addition to this, the region will require an investment of US$976 billion to build out infrastructure for roads, airports, and public transportation.
US$548.3 billion would be required to build new roads, US$15.2 billion to construct airports, and US$222.4 billion for urban mass transit infrastructure.
The remaining US$427.8 billion, he noted, should be used to maintain and replace road infrastructure.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

To boost residential connectivity, an annual investment of US$293 billion would be required, Dr. Ali noted.

“When we talk about digitisation,” he said, “when we talk about innovation, when we talk about creating an innovative platform, when we talk about digitising health records, when we talk about creating data centres, this is the reality; this is the gap that confronts us.”

The Head of State reiterated that more public-private collaborations will be needed to not only achieve the sustainable targets, but also to ensure that the region remains competitive.