Stabroek News had put a number of questions to CEO of QAII Dr. Ranjisinghi Ramroop regarding the promised jobs and whether they had been created, but he continues to decline comment.
Stabroek News also emailed the Public Relations Officer of QAII for information regarding the companies set up as part of the investment, however there has been no response.
The four companies created under the investment were the Guyana Times, Global Printing, Global Hardware, and Health International. QAII is also the principal of New GPC Inc.
It was envisaged that QAII would have been making an overall investment of US$30 million and would have been creating 1,200 jobs of which 600 new permanent jobs would have become a reality by the end of 2008.
Observers have stated that since these companies received concessions at the behest of the state, the taxpayers have a right to know whether the promised jobs have been delivered.
The government, at the time headed by former president Bharrat Jagdeo, had retroactively brought to the Parliament legislation to enable QAII to enjoy the benefits of the investment concessions when it was discovered that the company did not qualify under the law at the time. An amendment was then enacted to the Income Tax (In Aid of Industry) Act to facilitate QAII benefiting from the concessions.
Without stating the specifics, Chief Executive Officer of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington said the Privatisation Board was satisfied that QAII has lived up to its obligations with regard to the Sanata site.
He said members of the Privatisation Board had also visited the site and were pleased at the investment they saw. He also said QAII had made meaningful investment and had also succeeded in creating jobs. Some time around 2007, the government invited tenders for the lease of the printing and dying facilities and the land at the Sanata Complex, Industrial Estate, Ruimveldt but there was no response. Govern-ment then put to QAII that it should consider the Sanata complex for expansion beyond its Farm, East Bank Demerara premises, after noting that the Eccles industrial estate did not have the space to accommodate the planned expansion.
At that time, QAII drew up a proposal of five different projects and was willing to undertake to remove the asbestos from the compound, something which government at the time welcomed.
The government maintained that the selection of QAII’s proposal for the lease of Sanata’s land and equipment was done in a transparent manner. According to government, the Privatisation Board had recommended to Cabinet that the company be granted a 99-year lease with the government for the use of the Industrial Estate facility, with an option to buy. It is unclear if this option had been exercised by the company.
