Dear Editor,
The build-up of water in Georgetown during the rainy season is a natural feature of the city, along with other coastal areas which lie below or just about at sea level. Someone explained to me a couple of months ago that there used to be more canals in the city, but they were filled up and now host the avenues which run through Main, Camp, Thomas, East, Waterloo, and Carmichael Streets.
To the extent that these avenues have now become an aesthetic feature of Georgetown, the solution to the resultant flooding very probably lies in increasing the depth of the drainage systems throughout the city. This idea could also probably be applied where possible across those regions affected by flooding. Civil engineers should however definitely be consulted for their opinion.
As Guyana pushes forward with its agenda for economic and social progress, transforming Georgetown into an attractive, welcoming site, should be integral to the strategy of marketing Guyana as a destination for global corporations looking to establish sustainable long term investments in South America’s only English-speaking state. This is not to mention the large revenues that can be generated by raising Georgetown to the level of a viable tourist destination that is a strong competitor with the capital cities of our sister Caricom states.
Such an endeavour however must necessarily be accomplished through financing and sound management, which authority rests with Georgetown’s Mayor and City Council. The financing of the council’s activities needs to be addressed within a long term, sustainable framework, meaning that funds for the municipality’s activities should fall within a structured framework. An immediate quick response to this latter issue would probably be the return of revenues from the lottery to the revenue stream of the M&CC. As already pointed out, the idea of the lottery was the council’s, as an alternative to raising rates and taxes, and it is probably preferable to source revenues for the council’s activities from such a system.
A major issue within the council, as with the wider public sector, is the adequacy of the remuneration of workers. The management of the other major towns and communities across Guyana could benefit from closer attention to their funding requirements and the development of revenue structures to deliver on the necessary financing.
The state of the sugar industry will probably remain a thorny issue for some time to come, but the solution lies especially in considering the viability of Skeldon estate, and in the stakeholders in the labour sector considering not only the profitability and competitiveness of Guyana’s sugar on world market, but more importantly, how sugar workers themselves have benefited from working in the sugar industry.
In respect of profitability and competitiveness, the numbers are not favourable, with Guyana producing sugar at a cost of approximately US$0.35/lb, while sugar is available at around US$0.12/lb on the world market. What this means is that Guyana is producing sugar at a loss, estimated at around US$500/tonne, based on information released earlier this year.
One of the larger issues to consider is that maintenance issues notwithstanding, the Skeldon sugar factory will remain a drag on the profitability of GuySuCo since, as was already highlighted in the press, the size of the factory installed was much too large given the available supply of cane.
The other more pivotal issue which needs to be addressed by the sugar workers is the benefit that has accrued to them working in the sugar industry. What have sugar workers really gained from working over the years in the sugar industry? Have their lives and welfare improved over the decades? Can they expect to retire comfortably? Are their children benefiting from a better education and improved job opportunities as a result of sugar workers being able to provide a better life and greater educational opportunities?
Further, within the context of the sugar industry aiming to lower production costs, can sugar workers reasonably expect higher wages to support an improved standard of living for their families? Where do sugar workers see themselves in the next twenty years?
These are serious questions which should shift the focus to one in which the welfare of sugar workers and their families becomes central. It should lead to answers which will help sugar workers consider the net benefit of working in the local sugar industry given the global competitive forces at play going into the future, to which GuySuCo will probably be unable to respond in the near to medium term.
Yours faithfully,
Craig Sylvester
