Chairman expresses dissatisfaction at Finance Ministry’s “slothfulness”

Resuscitation of Linden airstrip

Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) Chairman Renis Morian, has expressed his dissatisfaction over what he described as the “slothful” movement by the Finance Ministry in dealing with investors to the region.

He was at the time responding to a question posed by Regional Councillor, Gordon Callender, during the monthly statutory meeting of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) on Thursday, regarding the progress of the Linden airstrip resuscitation.

In seeking a response, Callender reminded members of the Council that the airstrip had been rated as second, only to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, in terms of airstrip quality. He reminded that Morian had recently declared the region to be a “new economic hub”.

In response, Morian registered his dissatisfaction with the treatment of the region’s investors by the Finance Ministry regarding the airstrip, noting that about four investors had shown interest in the project but have not received clearance from the Ministry.

“I am not satisfied with the slothfulness and the way how the Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Finance is dealing with investors to Region 10. I did pen a letter to this effect to the President and Minister Harmon… there are about four investors who’ve shown interest, brought in their proposals and they got clearance at the Office of the President, the Ministry of Communities, and when they meet to the Ministry of Finance, it’s like the Ministry of Finance is a different country altogether,” Morian said.

He said Councillors had visited the site and had sent off a proposal after meeting with officials from the Public Infrastructure Ministry, adding that the proposal will be injected into plans of the relevant Ministry for the 2017 budget.

“So we won’t see anything now in 2016 but all the proposals for the airstrips right across the length and breadth of Guyana will be fed into that Ministry’s budget for 2017. But we did send the proposal based on what we’ve come up with on the ground,” the Regional Chairman said.

In July, regional officials sought to have the partially abandoned airstrip at Linden made fully operational again and embarked on preparing a proposal to the Public Infrastructure Ministry to that effect.

According to information coming out of the RDC, a meeting was planned in an effort to chart the way forward after the Council agreed that it was a project it was interested in pursuing.

Councillor Callender has disclosed that the airstrip was considered as one of the best in the country and that $200 million was expected to go towards its upgrade.