Opposition’s attack against infrastructure investment is wrong and reckless

Ruminations issue a challenge to the opposition – during debate on Budget 2026, tell the nation which Budget 2026 allocation for infrastructure the opposition believes must be omitted from the national allocation. Ruminations dare every MP in the opposition seats to tell the nation which infrastructure project does not benefit people and must be cut from Budget 2026.
The debate on Budget 2026 started this past Monday. The opposition in pre-debate comments so far, as reported in the media, and, in their own social media pages, have offered scanty, substance-free comments. During the debate, they will incessantly beat the drum that Budget 2026 is top-heavy with infrastructure investments, at the expense of people’s welfare. They will also rally around the absurd notion that the Government’s investment in infrastructure is driven, not in the national interest, but by greed. The argument in their pre-debate comments and in the debate so far has been that the only reason for allocations for highways, bridges, airport expansions, new airports, hinterland airstrips, canals, pump stations, sluices, passenger and cargo transport boats, hospitals, schools, police stations, etc. in Budget 2026 is for Government Ministers, their families and their friends to benefit from corrupt transactions.
We can safely bet that not a single one of the opposition MPs will accept this challenge. We have been down this road for every single PPP Government budget, particularly since 2020. They will repeat like a mantra the claim that infrastructure investment has nothing to do with meeting the needs of our country and that the only motivation for the heavy investment in physical infrastructure is driven by a corruption scheme. They will ignore the commonsense request from the public to give an example of a physical infrastructure project that is absolutely not needed at this time. Each and every budget presented by a PPP government since 2020 and even long before that has faced this scurrilous attack. But none of the WIN party MPs or the PNC-led APNU MPs will state a single project they believe should not be in Budget 2026.
Let us take one example – Budget 2026 provides $3.2B for the construction of a new arrival building at the CJIA to enhance passenger processing and services, addressing the limitations of the current infrastructure and further aligning the CJIA with international standards. Each year since 2020, the passenger load coming into Guyana has increased. Guyana is likely to surpass one million visitors by 2030. More investors are coming. Tourism is growing. The diaspora is visiting more and more. More airlines, more flights and more cargo are coming into the CJIA. Is this a project that is only in the books because of corruption or is it provided for because there is an urgent need?
I remember when the PNC-led APNU and the AFC voted against the modernization and expansion of the CJIA in 2013 and 2014 because they argued that Guyana will never need an expanded airport and that the expansion by the PPP Government was motivated only by greed. They even confidently predicted that the CJIA modernization and expansion would end up a white elephant. Yet that modernization project was continued when those same opposition MPs got into government. Even as finishing touches to the original project were being made when the PPP returned to office, the realization dawned that Guyana itself has changed and was in need of a bigger and even more modern airport.
Should we omit the Mabura to Lethem Highway? Which hospital construction, which school construction should be omitted from Budget 2026? Should we halt the construction of the gas-to-energy project which will allow us to reduce electricity cost by 50%? If these and other infrastructure projects are only driven by greed, it should be easy for the opposition MPs to list those projects that should be omitted from Budget 2026. Yet in none of their pre-budget debate comments or in the debate so far has a single opposition MP name one of the unnecessary infrastructure projects that should not be undertaken.
National infrastructure is of paramount importance. National infrastructure is critical because it supports economic growth, create jobs, ensures public safety and security, facilitates connectivity, and promotes resilience. With almost every family owning cars, with the population traveling more for jobs, education, health, sports and entertainment, vacation and business, highways, bridges, river transportation, wharves, airstrips and airports etc. are critical infrastructure.
We all can recall when the Hope Canal was being built, the opposition cried that it was a waste of resources, that it was going to be a white elephant, and, that the project was only design to provide families and friends of ministers with contract. The opposition MPs used to cry that the project was never intended to benefit people, but to full the pockets of ministers. Yet can anyone imagine living without the Hope Canal?
Budget 2026 provides for building five more such canals in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. These drainage and irrigation canals will help in further expansion of Guyana’s agriculture industry as we strengthen our food security credentials and as we transform agriculture from mainly livelihood activities to wealth-generating industrial agriculture.
Guyana’s future as a high-income country cannot be sustained unless critical infrastructures are built now. We cannot neglect the physical infrastructure. At the same time, we must meet other needs in a balance way. Budget 2026 has tried to achieve a balance development, providing for the continued economic and social upliftment of families, while also ensuring that infrastructure that benefits the people continue to improve.