Irfaan Ali, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic presidential candidate has pledged that a government led by him will invest in a deep water port in Region Six as well as a bridge over the Corentyne River in order to create massive employment within the region.
Ali told a crowd in New Amsterdam last Monday, “We must invest in the deep water port in Region Six and we will be doing it.”
He stated that the building of such a port and the bridging of the Corentyne River will transform the economy of the region and ignite growth within the county. According to him, with those two projects, Region Six can expect “the expansion of commerce, new businesses and opportunities in shipping, marketing, in technical services, in hotels, entertainment, logistics, insurance, brokerage, financial services, real housing.” He emphasised that bridging the Corentyne River would also facilitate tremendous opportunities for trade, agriculture expansion and expansion of housing services as he stated that the PPP/C has a solid housing plan to partner with the private sector so as to improve financing for citizens for housing.
Ali, who pledged to grant 20,000 scholarships to train the new work force of Guyana, told the crowd that it is important for citizens to be prepared to benefit from the new opportunities, “We have to ensure that the young people are trained. They have the certification to ensure that they have the knowledge.”
Further, according to Ali, another task as president would be to ensure that the private sector is supported and benefits from incentives in order to facilitate the expansion of their businesses and prepare them also for the new opportunities.
Ali, who pledged to support the sugar and rice sectors as well as farmers, said that his party will make sure the oil & gas sector benefits every citizen, “We have to ensure we have real local content. Local content that will ensure Guyanese are trained, Guyanese are retooled, Guyanese are orientated to benefit from the opportunities from oil and gas.”
Ali told the crowd, that technical education will also have to be expanded so as to facilitate the integration of citizens into the new sector.
Meanwhile, Ali stated to those gathered that while the APNU+AFC is yet to clearly outline their plans to create employment in Region Six, a government of his would invest heavily in ICT to create employment.
He said that “special incentives” would be given to the manufacturing and industrial sector in order for those sectors to then invest in the region to make it a “manufacturing and industrial hub for Guyana” which will also create massive employment.
He also committed to creating a programme to promote investment in tourism, agro-processing, educational and health services within the region, while promising to ensure that every government service is offered within the region in order to decrease transportation costs. Ali also pledged to build a state-of-the-art multi-purpose sporting facility of international standard in the region.
