(De Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – With four big investments in Suriname planned for the coming three to four years, the country must start preparing now to fully benefit from these financial injections. The labor market in particular must be made ready, says Henk Ramdien, retired managing director of bauxite company Suralco. On Saturday, he was appointed chairman of the negotiating commission that is to reach an agreement with multinational Newmont on the construction of a gold mine in East Suriname. Ramdien told DWT that IamGold will invest between US$ 800 million and 1 billion in the expansion of its Rosebel operations, Suralco is developing new bauxite reserves, Staatsolie is investing some US$ 1 billion in the expansion of its refinery and Newmont will construct a gold mine in East Suriname. He calculates that these investments total US$ 3.5 billion, and at least 20% of this amount will remain in Suriname as wages for Surinamese workers and payments to Surinamese service providers.
