Re-elected Chairman of the Upper Corentyne Chamber of Commerce Hemchand Jaichand says that the range of business-related issues facing the community poses the new executive with “a number of exacting challenges” not least of which is the need to provide responses to questions that continue to arise in relation to the future of the Skeldon sugar estate.
“It is not something that we can brush aside. The reality is that we are talking about 2,500 households, 250 businesses and about 150 other service providers,” all of which, he said, look to Skeldon either for direct support in terms of employment or the economic spinoffs that derive for the patronage of the Skeldon estate employees.
Jaichand told Stabroek Business that the uncertainties surrounding Skeldon had thrown open the wider issue of the downturn in the Upper Corentyne economy and the need for public/private sector contemplation of alternative employment opportunities primarily in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
Rejecting the notion that the agenda of the Upper Corentyne Chamber might be “all about Skeldon” Jaichand said that while the issue of the future of Skeldon was not a matter that could be wished away, “there is no way that Skeldon could be left out of the wider discussion.” However, the Berbice business executive said that both he and the wider Chamber were concerned about the need for the business community “to have a conversation with the GRA” since it was felt that there was a lack of clarity among Upper Corentyne business regarding the correct application of the rules. “A lot can be done by the private sector and the government agencies talking to each other,” Jaichand said.
According to Jaichand the new Chamber executive will also be pushing the issue of even further acceleration of business ties – and particularly cross-border commercial ties between Guyana and Suriname. “We continue to be interested in between being updated on the progress of discussions in relation to the bridging of the Corentyne River. That will have a positive impact on commerce in this community,” Jaichand said.
Today, Jaichand is one of several executives from the various Berbice Chambers expected to meet with Finance Minister Winston Jordan to discuss a range of issues. Up to yesterday morning, the representatives of Berbice Chambers, stretching from Upper Corentyne to West Coast Berbice were yet to meet to finalize the issues expected to arise at today’s meeting with Jordan though Jaichand said he believed that the real significance of the meeting reposed in the fact that the respective Chambers had agreed to meet with the Finance Minister as a united group of business executives.
