Dear Editor,
When I read a schedule contained in the Draft Local Content Legislation 2021 about Guyana providing 100% of the steel for offshore oil projects within the next ten years I was confused. Guyana does not have iron ore. Guyana does not have a steel plant and I have not heard of one being built. So that could only mean a Guyanese company would buy these steel plates from somewhere and then sell them on to whichever contractor is building an FPSO even if it was in Singapore. The steel would not even come to Guyana. It will simply be a paper transaction involving a local company sending an invoice putting on its markup. It will not create jobs which is the most beneficial aspect of local content. One can only imagine how members of the local private sector will scheme to win these steel contracts. Needless to say, the prospect of collusion and corruption is high. This is not what local content should be about.
Yours sincerely,
Lynn Nicholas