Serious planning needed to utilise oil wealth to benefit all

─ PM states in weekly “My Turn” column

─ govt has laid the foundation for a great Guyana

DPI, Guyana, Sunday, February 10, 2019

“This is the time for serious planning on how to utilise the expected oil resources to benefit all of our people.”

This was expressed by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo in his “My Turn” column in this Sunday’s edition of the Guyana Chronicle Newspaper.

With first oil expected in 2020 and 12 wells so far discovered in the Stabroek Block, the Prime Minister cited international journalist, Steve LeVine who in an article titled “The surprising next oil superpower” described Guyana as being “on the cusp of becoming one of the world’s wealthiest nations” and The Caribbean Development Bank has rated Guyana among one of the fast-growing economies in the region. CDB President, Dr. William Warren Smith, stated that Guyana recorded a 3.4 per cent growth rate for 2018.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo opined that Dr. Smith “was not speaking only to the on-and-off shore infrastructures in advance of first oil, but also to the mega projects such as the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the East Bank and East Coast highways.”

He stated that while there are “parochial interest groups, sections of the media, and political groupings” who “declined to note the radical transition of Guyana out of the underground or parallel economy, which was driven primarily by the narco-enterprise, contraband trading and illicit transactions of all types under the previous regime,” the progress the APNU-AFC Coalition Government has made since assuming office in May 2015 is evident.

The Prime Minister recalled his recent visit to the Pomeroon-Supenaam region, where at a Town Hall meeting, the late Isahak Basir, a former parliamentarian spoke of the progress being made in Essequibo and the rest of the country. An hour later, an overseas-based Guyanese back home for a visit approached him at the Supenaam Stelling and expressed her satisfaction with the “wonderful” developments being made across the country.

Aside from infrastructural developments, Prime Minister Nagamootoo stated: “the Coalition has an unbreakable record for a sustained wage increase by an average 50 per cent.” Prime Minister Nagamootoo further noted, “the Coalition, in partnership with multilateral stakeholders, drafted a Green State Development Strategy that outlines a Plan and Vision for the first 20 years after first oil, and an outline of the exponential, great development of our country in every sector.”

Anara Khan.

Image: Department of Public Information.