Natural Resources Act to be reviewed – Natural Resources Minister

– bill did not benefit from bipartisan examination before being passed

The Natural Resources bill passed by the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) has to be reviewed by the new Government, in order to ensure that the legislation is in line with the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) policies for the oil and gas sector.

The bill was literally the only piece of legislation passed by the former Government to deal with the oil and gas sector, during their time in office. In an interview with this publication, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat pointed out that the bill did not benefit from a comprehensive, bipartisan review in the National Assembly prior to its passing.
“We have to relook at the Natural Resource Fund legislation. That bill was passed after the No-Confidence Motion. So, we didn’t have a chance to examine that bill before it was passed. We weren’t a part of those debates.”
Bharrat pointed out that the Act contains a number of things that were not set up by the former Government, including the investment and Macro-Economic Committee and the Public and Oversight Committee.
“The bill speaks to a lot of things that were not implemented by the previous Administration. We’ll relook at the Natural Resource legislation so that it can be in line with our policies and programmes.”
The former APNU/AFC Government had released the draft Natural Resources Fund bill of 2018 and passed it in January of 2019. Former President David Granger assented to the bill the next month.
Among other things was a 22-member Public Accountability and Oversight Committee that would oversee the management of the Fund and provide checks and balances. This was never implemented.
Also proposed in the Act was the establishment of an Investment Committee and a Macro-Economic Committee. The investment Committee is supposed to advise the Minister on investment opportunities and help in overseeing the management of the fund’s investment portfolio.
Meanwhile, the Macro-Economic Committee has the responsibility of advising the Minister on how much money can be withdrawn from the fund in an economically feasible and sustainable way.
Guyana’s oil and gas sector is in urgent need of attention. Guyana became an oil-producing nation in 2019 with a number of key pieces of policy and legislation missing. In fact, in five years, only a single piece of legislation related to the sector was passed by the Government – namely the Natural Resources Fund bill, which was signed into law by former President David Granger last year.
The bill to create a Petroleum Commission is yet to pass in the House despite being on the order paper in the 12th Parliament and the Local Content Policy released last year has been criticised for its lack of teeth and its confidentiality clauses.
When it comes to local content, President Dr Irfaan Ali assembled a high-level team of experts only days ago to advise his Government on the formulation of a strong Local Content Policy that will ensure all citizens benefit from the country’s lucrative oil and gas sector.
The Local Content Advisory Panel will be chaired by President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Shyam Nokta and will include former Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, former Energy Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kevin Ramnarine, and former Chairman of the Public Service Commission Carvil Duncan. Also sitting on the panel are financial expert Floyd Hayne and energy expert Dr Anthony Paul