Dear Editor,
In an SN article of Feb 13, Dr Nanda Gopaul, Minister of Labour after a site visit to the Marriott Hotel to assess construction progress and other issues was reported as defending the exclusive use of non-national Chinese workers for the construction of the hotel because in his opinion the Chinese contractor, Shanghai Construction Group (CCG) was using highly technical construction methods, skills which he claimed Guyanese did not have. It would take some time for them to acquire the relevant competencies necessary to use the technology being employed on an ultra modern hotel, he said.
Earlier Mr Winston Brassington, CEO of NICIL had acknowledged that SCG under the terms and conditions of its contract was entitled to select any labour force it deemed fit as it had reduced its original contract price to construct the hotel by over US$14M for this concession. He made no reference to the lack of competency of Guyanese labour as a factor which influenced the overwhelming use of Chinese labour.
It is evident that the Minister of Labour in defence of his contradictory labour policies has made bland and damning statements on the ability and competency of Guyanese construction workers without the facts to support his claims. Dr Gopaul has failed as Minister of Labour to recognise that the people whom he now finds lacking in construction techni-ques to build the hotel are the ones who have acquired those seemingly lacking skills from those who built the Berbice River Bridge, the Pegasus and Princess hotels, Caricom and Cultural centres, the Tapakuma and Black Bush Polders Drainage and Irrigation projects and so forth and so on. There is no doubt that Guyanese contractors and their work-ers have the competency to undertake projects like the Marriott Hotel as those knowledgeable about the industry could attest. Hence, Minister Gopaul should have the courage of his conviction and publicly state what the precise skills are that Guyanese lack to build the Marriott Hotel so that training programmes could be instituted for the unemployed to acquire the necessary skills for the job market.
Guyana is a poor, developing country and the government has a duty and obligation to educate and train its people to acquire the skills for jobs to grow its economy, and not use public funds for projects which provide work for non-nationals while those whose welfare it is supposed to foster have no alternative but to hang out in the streets twiddling their thumbs waiting for employment opportunities as outsiders receive the benefits from their apparent callous government. This would be unconscionable in any civilized society and the government urgently needs to rethink its priorities.
Finally, as this will be a highly technical hotel requiring complex construction methods it is hoped that Mr Brassington is protecting Guyanese interests by ensuring that those responsible for project supervision have the skills and competencies at the level set by the Minister of Labour to execute their duties, so that in the end a well-constructed and magnificient structure will have been built.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
