-says it will gain us nothing

THE PRIMARY CRITERIA that should be considered in the move to advance Guyana’s development should be what is in the interest of the people and country, President Donald Ramotar has said, as he decried the “blackmail methods” contaminating local politics.

“I call for a renewed (sense of) patriotism and nationalism from our political parties,” he said during his address at the 48th Independence Anniversary celebrations on Sunday night at the National Park.

He stressed that opposing for opposition’s sake and introducing blackmail methods in our politics will gain the Guyanese people and country nothing.

“Even if it gives results in the short term, it will damage the moral fabric of our society in the medium and long terms,” he posited.

The President pointed out that Guyana has had real consecutive economic growth every year since 2006; and this, he said, represented the longest period of uninterrupted real economic growth since Independence in 1966.

“It is no mean achievement. It is one that all Guyanese must be proud of. We must recall that this was being accomplished at a time when the international economy was rocked by a series of international financial and economic crises from 2007.

“In spite of these negative global developments, which impacted on the prices for our main exports and imports, our country pushed ahead. Last year the economy grew by more than five per cent,” the President said as he surmised that economic growth could have been greater had the current Administration had the cooperation of the combined Opposition — the Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) — in the National Assembly during the 10th Parliament.

POISED FOR BETTER
He added that Guyana is poised for greater advances. “Clearly, we have laid, and are continuing to lay, a solid foundation for greater and faster progress in the future. To do so, we need to have improved infrastructure,” the President said.

The acceleration of this process, however, is dependent on the cooperation of the combined Opposition; since one of the main impediments to Guyana’s faster economic growth is the lack of cheap energy – the advance of which has been challenged in the National Assembly.

The President said, “We need this (cheap energy) to provide for a strong industrial and processing sector. We need it to add value to much of what we produce today. We need it, too, to ensure that our domestic consumers have cheap and reliable power in their homes.

“We need it so that we can reduce the importation of fossil fuel and to be able to save the nine billion dollars we use every year to subsidise electricity charges to our people.”

He stressed his confidence that the move towards hydropower will stimulate rapid economic growth and facilitate job creation in every sector.

“It took us four years of negotiations to have reached that stage in 2013, and all of that has been lost; but we are determined to get this project. Already, we have recommenced the search (for) opportunities to bring hydropower to our country. We will also pursue other forms of cheap, reliable and renewable (green) energy in the future. These will include wind, solar, and co-generation,” the Head of State said.

Slated to be the nation’s most ambitious undertaking, the Amaila Falls Hydro Project (AFHP) is touted to be able to provide Guyanese with a cheaper, reliable and sustainable power supply. It involves the construction of a hydropower plant in the area of West-Central Guyana, where the Amaila and Kuribrong rivers meet.

Electricity produced there would be delivered to Georgetown and Guyana’s second largest town, Linden. The Amaila Falls Hydro Project is anticipated to result in substantial savings to the nation’s coffers, particularly in terms of foreign exchange and the purchase of heavy fuel oil.

The potential benefits of a more stable and reliable source of energy through the advance of hydroelectricity was also targeted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last December as an area for continued focus.
On July 18 last, the combined Opposition defeated the Hydroelectric Power (Amendment) Bill, and in August the Government took the legislation back to the National Assembly and received the backing of the AFC, but APNU voted the bill and motion down.

The current administration has since made public its commitment to ensuring that hydropower is a realisation for Guyana.

(By Vanessa Narine)