Enormous opportunities for light manufacturers, industrial development – Pres Ali – Gas-to-Energy Project

…urges T&T Private Sector to partner with Guyanese

President Dr Irfaan Ali has encouraged the Private Sector of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) to work along with its Guyanese counterpart and form consortiums that can take advantage of the massive opportunities that open up from Guyana’s gas projects.
The highly anticipated Gas-to-Energy (GtE) Project at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD), includes a 300-megawatt (MW) combined cycle power plant and a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility utilising the country’s rich natural gas resources that will be piped from offshore. The power plant is expected to slash electricity prices in Guyana by half when it comes on stream later this year, while the NGL facility will treat the gas for commercialisation activities.
In fact, the Guyanese Government has established the Wales Development Zone (WDZ) – a 1400-acre area where a series of industrial activities would be set up. Plans are already in place for a fertiliser plant, data centres and a dedicated auto-truck park for logistics, among others.

Build partnerships and build consortiums
“There are going to be enormous opportunities for light manufacturers and industrial development here,” President Ali told stakeholders at the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s Annual Business Meeting Outlook 2026/2027 in Port of Spain on Friday. He added, “I hope that the chambers here and the Private Sector in Guyana can have an exploration as to how we build partnerships and build consortiums to make use of this industrial site that we are building out here to produce a whole different scale of products. The cost of energy will come down by half. Right now, we are looking at glass, cement, and steel. We’re also looking at the digital opportunities.”
Already, some 250 kilometres (km) of 12-inch pipelines have been laid to bring the gas onshore. However, only 40 per cent of the pipeline’s capacity will be used by the GtE Project to gas up the power plant and NGL facility, bringing 50 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of dry gas onshore.
But with the pipelines having the capacity to push as much as 120 mmscfd of gas, the Guyanese Government is moving ahead with Phase Two of the GtE Project that will utilise the remaining 60 per cent capacity of the pipeline to bring additional gas onshore. This will see the construction of a second 300-MW power plant and NGL facility at the Wales site, thus creating even more commercial opportunities.
According to Ali, “We are looking to test [the first GtE Project] and to prove to investors that we are a destination for investment in this area.”

Reimagining business structures
At the same time, however, the Guyanese Government is looking to further monetise the country’s vast gas resources with a second, much larger pipeline, landing this time at Berbice, where another massive industrial zone would be built out – unlocking another series of large-scale opportunities.

With these to come on stream, President Ali underscored the importance of partnerships with Guyanese and Trinidadian companies.
“In this region, the time is now for us to reimagine our business structures. Consortiums and partnerships are what the future requires because the future requires scale. The future requires diversification of risk. And that is what partnership and consortium allow us to do,” he told stakeholders during his feature address at the T&T Chamber’s Business Meeting on Friday.
The Guyanese leader pointed out that Trinidad’s energy maturity coupled with Guyana’s infrastructure can be leveraged to exploit opportunities in energy-intensive manufacturing, petrochemical synergy, digital and artificial intelligence (AI), refining and monetisation. He stressed that exploring new investments is critical, especially given the Twin Island Republic’s diminishing oil and gas reserves.
“When you look at the reality of energy costs in Trinidad and Tobago and the policy agenda of where that will be in the future, it tells the manufacturers that you need, maybe, to invest a bit in other markets to mitigate the risk and also open up new opportunities. So, those things must be taken into consideration in building out the partnership,” the president stated.
Moreover, given the current geopolitical events around the world and the impact that the ongoing Middle East war has had on energy resources globally, Ali emphasised that the two Caribbean nations need to take advantage of the opportunities this presents and pool their resources to ensure energy security within the region.
“So, how do we coordinate our efforts in building out a shipyard, shipbuilding opportunities… How do we leverage the energy for this? Now, let us not think that this is beyond us… Let us start the conversation. And then it leads to what would make it work? What are the incentives that will make it work? What are the global partnerships that would allow it to work?”

Future-proofing
According to the Guyanese head of state, such collaborations would allow Guyana and Trinidad to future-proof their respective economies by building advanced industries to meet the needs of the region. “We must not be afraid of complex problems or complex industries. The time has come for us to leverage our knowledge, buying knowledge where it’s necessary, and address complex opportunities. We have to remove ourselves from inward-looking policies and look at future-proofing our businesses and our economy. We have to look at how energy will power the future markets and allow us to position ourselves [for] the future market…”
“We have to re-engineer our processes. We have to look at innovative opportunities, market twinning, and transport reliability. We have to look at seamless borders, smooth enough to build partnerships and strong enough to keep the bad actors out. We have to stop hiding under bureaucracy, and we have to realign our laws and policies and deal with the issues of trade barriers. So, together, I believe if we are willing to make this step in a bold, creative and innovative way, we will be doing justice for the future generations and future-proofing our economy,” President Ali asserted.