News

Introduction This week I was planning to prepare a piece on the economic impact of hosting large sporting events, with a particular focus with respect to ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 and Guyana.

This column resumes last week’s discussion of the trading in forest concessions in Guyana by FDI-benefiting (Foreign Direct Investment) companies, in disregard of the specific prohibitions set out in Guyana’s forest law.

Police are hunting a teenager who shot his 14-year-old ex-girlfriend on Friday night minutes after she shunned him.

A former office holder for the Alliance For Change (AFC) party is facing fraud allegations in the UK.

Some eligible Bed and Breakfast providers have said that the suggestion at this late stage that they should assist in marketing their own accommodation should have been made at the inception.

Fifty years ago today six European countries came together to create a unique form of regional organization with the aim of ensuring that war would never again ravage the European continent, leaving a trail of death and devastation.

Guyana has been identified among those countries that serve as an “air bridge” to facilitate the direct flow of cocaine from Colombia to the Caribbean.

Guyana Water Inc says that tomorrow customers served by the Friendship Treatment Plant on the East Coast Demerara (Friendship, Buxton, Annandale, Bladen Hall and Strathspey) will experience a water supply disruption from 12 noon to 6 pm, owing to planned maintenance.

Edris Chester of Buxton is no stranger to tragedy. She had watched in horror while gunmen burnt down her house at Friendship three years ago and shot her son and other relatives.

Guyana’s fruit, vegetables, ground spices and other local condiments are now available in the Guyana Shop, a retail outlet for local products only, located at Robb and Alexander Streets.

Visitors to Guyana for the Super Eight leg of the Cricket World Cup will be afforded opportunities to see two of Guyana’s most important tourist attractions – the Kaieteur Falls and the Iwokrama Rainforest canopy walkway.

The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry is concerned over the continued failure of the economy to provide jobs for graduates of the country’s secondary schools and the University of Guyana.

Realtors say inquiries for short-term rentals are not significant for the local Cricket World Cup (CWC) matches while some hoteliers are happy about steady bookings.

Small numbers of visitor arrivals coupled with high costs of operating interior resorts are among the principal challenges facing the local tourist industry.

The Guyana High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Laleshwar Singh has called on the British and European businesses at an Oxford business summit to invest in Guyana now, ahead of a major investment forum scheduled for May.

Five categories of claimants received more than $4bn in payments from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) based on pension claims made during 2006, according to information released by the Scheme recently.

Francia Da Silva symbolizes a hoped-for new generation of hotel proprietors whose sense of good taste, high standards and awareness of small details lends her charge a distinct competitive edge and provides more than a measure of hope that the local accommodation sector can measure up to the exacting standards of international travellers.

NULL

Although the predictions are that the arrival here in a few days time of cricket fans for the Guyana leg of the Cricket World Cup ought to witness a financial windfall, particularly for the country’s service sector, a few imponderables persist as far as the longer term economic impact on the country is concerned.

Over the next few weeks, I will concentrate my columns on internal company policies with the hope that both employers and employees demand that our local firms adhere to standards that are in the best interest of both parties.