Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud says the low production in the quarry sector is worrying as government has a $3B road programme that will require substantial quarry supplies and there has been a reduction in output compared with last year’s amounts.
In January, the minister met with quarry and sand and loam pit operators to advise them about the projects and the projected amount of materials that will be needed to meet demand. Operators had given assurances that they would maintain the 2013 level, which was considerably higher than 2012 and had expressed hope about increasing production.
However, last month’s quarry production was recorded at 50,197 tonnes compared to 52, 360 tonnes for the corresponding period in 2013, a report from the Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) said. To date, the figures for the month of February remain unsatisfactory.
According to Persaud, government’s road programme which is valued at over $3B requires a substantial amount of quarry materials and this is in addition to the sea and river defence projects and housing development projects (both in the public and private sector).
“Many of the Government, as well the private contractors are themselves complaining, and have reported of their inability to access the type and quantity of quarry products that they need,” he said. Stakeholders have also voiced concerns about pricing, he said, but this is determined by the market.
“The Ministry’s primary interest is to get quarry operators and producers to increase and improve their production which they had pledged to [do]….This was the basis on which they were granted licences to operate,” Persaud said.
Operators have said that the low production was due to equipment failure, difficulties in clearing equipment spares, a shortage of labour, and other logistical issues.
The ministry has arranged for the operators to meet with officials from the Guyana Revenue Authority to address some of the issues challenging the sector and plans to continue dialoguing with them with a view to problem solving.
However, Persaud said operators can do much more to address problems in the sector.
In the light of this, Cabinet has mandated that the requirements for granting quarrying licences be reviewed to ensure that national projects are not delayed because of poor production.
At the same time the ministry is inviting in-vestors to contact the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission for areas available for quarrying. Persaud said increasing competition in the sector could fix the problem of low production though if the problem persists, stone would have to be imported although some contractors and operators have already started to do so.
“We have to put more stringent conditions to ensure that if people have this resource, they utilise it, and if they cannot utilise it, that they relinquish it so that it can be made available to others… we have vast resources in terms of quarry, so complaints about inadequate supply or availability should not be an issue,” the minister said.
