Retired Major General Norman McLean, President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), yesterday implored government to work alongside the private sector on harbour expansion and maintenance to improve economic prosperity.
At the GMSA’s mid-year luncheon held at the Pegasus Hotel, McLean repeated the GMSA’s longstanding plea that the Georgetown harbour is in desperate need of desilting which impacts Guyana’s ability to import and export without taking on additional costs.
He said, “We are positioned on the Atlantic and that could be both a blessing and a curse in the sense that we will have access to markets throughout the Caribbean and elsewhere, but our problem has always been and continues to be one of siltation… that must be a major, major priority for Guyana because we are paying for dead weight.”
The President of the GMSA said Guyana absorbs the cost when 6,000-8,000 tonnes vessels are forced to leave Georgetown with a fraction of the weight they can carry due to the silt levels. He expressed awe at Oldendorff which utilizes the mouth of the Berbice River to move 40,000 tonnes of bauxite stating that Georgetown had to look for similar ways to conduct business.
McLean said Georgetown had to commence regular dredging or open additional channels to facilitate larger vessels with larger loading facilities.
He said currently the situation that exists “is hampering the development of our trade and investment in Guyana and this is something we need to to do and do urgently.”
He said he was pleased that the coalition government has engaged the private sector as well as committed to confronting these issues in the short term.
McLean said too that high energy and customs costs paired with the dearth in import and export processing have made investors leery of Guyana. The President of the GMSA also stated that Guyana’s limited skill level needed addressing to attract large-scale investors to grow manufacturing.
He said the country had to look past primary products and commence tertiary manufacturing.
The President of the GMSA said that by the first quarter of 2015 the GMSA would be engaging the region in membership of a more inclusive network.
He said once that was finalized funding would be opened to assist with building the manufacturing sector with a high emphasis on value added.
In March, prior to winning the elections, President David Granger had promised the GMSA to maximise alternative energy options, even signalling that reformation of the Amaila Falls Hydropower project may be feasible.
Granger had told the GMSA that the coalition would look extensively at developing wind, water and solar energy.
