Home Top Stories PPP/C’s 4th anniversary: Govt has made many long-term investments within 4 years...
… says citizens will be reaping the benefits for years to come
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s ascension to office, after a five-month delay that was caused by the refusal of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government to demit office after losing the March 2020 general and regional elections.
Reflecting on those four years in office during his most recent press conference, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo noted that many things were accomplished by the PPP/C Government, and still more remains to be done.
Jagdeo noted that many of the long-term projects and programmes his government has started, such as the transformational Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project, will allow citizens to reap benefits well into the future.
“I’m very pleased about these four years. And a lot that we’ve worked on, in the past four years, putting together, will yield benefits in the future. So, the benefits don’t come immediately. The construction is going on, so we have more jobs for people. But when these seven hotels are running, 3000 Guyanese will work in there. That’s 3000 more jobs for our people, good paying jobs.”
“When the gas-to-energy project is completed next year, we will become an exporter of cooking gas. Now we import all our cooking gas. The electricity will be more stable and the price will be cut by 50 per cent. And we’re working on that, the benefits have not come fully as yet,” the Vice President said.
Canals
Mention was also made of the work being done to construct Hope-like canals, in different parts of the country. The Hope Canal, or Northern Relief Channel, which is located at Hope/Dochfour, is a multi-component channel that allows excess water from the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) to be drained into the Atlantic Ocean via an eight-door sluice, to avoid overflowing and possible flooding.
The Hope Canal has been instrumental in preventing massive flooding along the East Coast of Demerara during the unprecedented May-June floods. As far back as 2021, the government had announced that similar structures would be constructed in other regions to curb devastating floods. These include Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
“The Hope-like canals would bring hundreds of thousands of arable acres of land, under better drainage conditions. So that we can increase production and productivity, apart from the impact it would have on preventing flooding. And those are still in the works. The benefits have not been felt as yet, because we think long-term. So, a lot of the improvements are yet to be seen,” Jagdeo said.
“When the 12 hospitals are completed, we’d have 13 new operating theatres across this country. We’d have about 30 in the public sector. about 30 CT scans in almost all these hospitals. We’ll move primary healthcare up to a different level. And they’re unfolding now, for the benefits in the future. So, in another two, three years, our people will see this benefit.”
Infrastructure
A frequent gripe from the APNU/AFC opposition has been that the PPP/C Government is spending too much on infrastructural projects. Jagdeo put this gripe into context, however, as he noted that citizens along the coast are still plagued by transportation woes due to the lack of roads… an issue the PPP/C Government is addressing even now.
“The opposition says we spend too much money on infrastructure. And up to a couple of days ago, I met some people from the East Coast. And they said they spent nearly three hours on the road, getting into Georgetown, because of traffic jams. That’s three hours of their lives, wasted. There were about four persons in the car.”
“And they don’t want us to build a four-lane road from Mahaica to Georgetown. Well, we’re building it, it’s already awarded. But they’re opposed to that. So, these four years have been tough.”
Jagdeo also pointed to the government’s achievements on the oil and gas and environmental front. These include the passage of the 2021 Local Content Act, which carves out 40 different service areas that oil and gas companies and their subcontractors must procure from Guyanese and Guyanese-owned companies, as well as the multi-year agreement Guyana has with United States energy-major Hess Corporation, to sell high-quality carbon credits. The deal is worth a total value of US$750 million.
“I didn’t even talk about our achievements on the environment front. We have moved from zero to a world-leading strategy that has earned more money than any country in the world, in the forestry sector, through a market-based mechanism,” Jagdeo pointed out.
Record
The PPP’s first year in office got off to a feverish start, with a $330 million emergency budget passed within two months in office and several projects that had stagnated under the former APNU/AFC Government taking off.
One of the major concerns persons had with former President David Granger’s Administration was the increase in the tax burden on the ordinary man. President Ali, in the 2020 emergency budget, prepared in a record 29 days, made sure to roll back these measures.
Making good on an issue it campaigned on and criticised the former APNU/AFC Government for, the President Dr. Irfaan Ali-led Government rolled back the imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) and duties on mining equipment.
VAT was also removed from exports, cell phones, medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), and building and construction materials, as well as pesticides and agricultural chemicals. VAT was also removed from the importation of stones as the construction sector set up for a boom.
Other advances the Government has made have been in the area of infrastructure, healthcare, and housing, where it distributed 3500 house lots in the first four months in office – an amount that was half the number of house lots distributed during the former Government’s five years in office.
Since then, the government has distributed over 35,000 new house lots, as well as developed 40 new housing areas. Additionally, more than 3000 homes have been built, including thousands of low-income houses, at a cost of over $5.8 billion.
