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