President Irfaan Ali yesterday told East Canje, Berbice residents that the process to restart operations at sugar estates which were closed by the previous government has already begun except for the Wales Estate where the factory was dismantled.
The President said that the government is presently speaking with GuySuCo’s management to gain a clear understanding of what level of investment is required. “But the commitment is that these estates will be brought back into operation”, he asserted. The restart of the estates had been a PPP/C manifesto promise. The estates in question are Skeldon, Rose Hall and East Demerara. The Skeldon estate and factory had been a major drain on the corporation’s finances, pushing up the cost of sugar production astronomically. It is unclear how its problems will be easily remedied to enable a restart of operations.
Ali said in terms of the Wales Estate, his government is looking at a Wales Development Authority so as to still be able to create some sort of employment for persons within that area.
Ali yesterday visited villages in East Canje where he distributed several hundred hampers to those in need.
“We are going to pursue an investment in sugar, we are going to keep sugar, we are going to make sugar stronger”, he told residents. During the distribution in Adelphi Village, he noted that the government has set aside $5B to help directly with COVID-19 and that “Before the end of this week I will announce a special set of measures and package that will help you at your house level and that will put back more money in your pockets”.
The President stressed that while his government is working on an emergency budget for 2020, they are also constructing a more structured budget for early 2021.
The President told those gathered that COVID-19 has brought its own hardship on communities that were already stressed because of the closure of the sugar estates and the downturn of the economy.
“We also knew that there were limited interventions in terms of bringing relief to the community, bringing relief to the household level, bringing relief at the family level”, he said.
Ali said the measures to be announced by his government would not only be for communities but would rather benefit every single family across Guyana. “I have made a commitment that I am going to work every single day, the government is going to work every single day in the best interest of all the people in our country”.
He further told the Canje residents that his government would work to ensure that the commitments in his party’s manifesto will be fulfilled, “I want to assure you that those commitments are strong today as the day we would have made them and we are going to ensure we make the necessary investments to bring back the jobs that were lost in these communities”.
He said his government would make investments to support children and pensioners and reduce their expenditure on water and electricity.
The President said that he has also asked a Special Sub Committee of Cabinet to look at the bauxite situation in the country as well. Pointing out that children are unable to attend school due to the pandemic he said measures beneficial to them will also be announced before the end of the week.Meanwhile, the president stated that the government is mobilizing resources to help at the community level also. He stated, “Not only were the five months draining on us politically but it was draining on the treasury also. Billions of dollars in expenditure is left for us to pay the bill so it left very little space in this emergency budget”.
The President, who met residents at Gangaram, Goed Banana Land, Adelphi, Betsy Ground, Reliance and Canefield, stressed continuously to residents the importance of them wearing their masks and paying attention to the COVID-19 guidelines. “I ask you to work and carry on your daily activities keep in mind that you are living in a COVID- 19 environment and don’t say we don’t have the issue in our community, we don’t know (when) it can pop up so we have to take the safeguard, we have to take the precautions. It’s the only way we can help in the fight against COVID-19 and I am appealing to you to take it seriously and do your part”, he implored.
