Remigrant Peter Baptiste was ready to give up on his dream of developing a logging business, but President Irfaan Ali renewed his hope by assuring him that he will obtain a lease for a piece of land he had been waiting on for years.
According to a release from the Office of the President, Baptiste returned home sometime in 2017 with high hopes and dreams of investing in a log exporting and value-added business in Linden.
Speaking to the President at a presidential outreach in Linden on Thursday, the 45-year-old said that when he re-migrated to Guyana some four years ago, he sold all his assets from his minibus service in order to purchase five logging trucks valued at approximately $60M.
“My intention was to come back and open up a sawmill, a furniture store and to export lumber and lumber materials. I even already had investors prepared from St. Lucia and the United States of America ready to do business, but the previous administration did not have a vision and that started my first problem,” Baptiste told the President.
He said that when he inquired for assistance and guidance from ministers of the previous government, he encountered hurdles.
“One time I called a Minister and she kept asking me how I got her number and so I said Minister I need some assistance and she switched off her number from me,” Baptiste said, according to the release.
“All of that was frustrating and my business ended up running flat because I was not getting to do what I wanted to do. What I did was ended up having to get refund for the trucks and I even wanted to leave and go back”, Baptiste related.
Baptiste was also having issues with obtaining a lease for lands he had applied for in the Moblissa area. After explaining his issues to Ali, he was instructed to speak with the representative of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and was told that he would be receiving the lease he applied for on Friday which amounts to two acres of industrial land.
“Now I will be able to get my lease and one of my issues have been solved just like that after years of waiting”, the businessman said.
“President Ali rejuvenated my dreams, my vision and because of him I have been encouraged to invest more in my country. I never believed that I would have been able to sit in front of a President and speak in such an informal and casual setting. I believe this is a government for the people and I am happy,” Baptiste said.
The Lindener was part of a group of miners, farmers and loggers who journeyed to the Watooka Guest House to speak to the President.
Most of the issues raised by the residents of the region surrounded infrastructural development.
Linden Duncan raised the issue of the inability to obtain long-term loans while having short-term leases.
President Ali said that the financial institutions, government and residents must come to an arrangement that would benefit everyone.
