Estates’ closure
-urges Govt to carry out impact assessments
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is fearful of the social and economic impact Government’s proposed move to close several sugar estates across the country could have, and renewed its call for the administration to first carry out an impact assessment before venturing in this direction.
The Party has deemed Government’s plans as putting the “cart before the horse” and said that this will definitely open the door for confrontation.
The issue of Government’s handling of the sugar industry was raised at the PPP’s weekly press conference on Monday by executive member Irfaan Ali, but was taken on by senior Party Member, Dr Roger Luncheon, who said that the call for the non-closure of estates is not a policy, but a reminder to the Administration that it should not place the cart before the horse.
He said to close the estates before the studies, would undoubtedly leave much to be desired, as there still needs to be proper reasons and consideration before it moves in this direction.
Comparing the situation to the current parking meter fiasco, Dr Luncheon related to how citizens rose up in protest against the parking meters, saying the same could be expected from workers across the sugar belt.
“We are anticipating and hoping that wise heads will prevail whether at the Cabinet or some forum, somebody, even God from above got to talk to these people, because this proposed action will inevitably will lead to confrontation,” he told the media.
He said his Party went into Office with the tradition of “salvaging those industries that have been wrecked, including sugar, rice and bauxite.”
“Since 1992 there has been a massive salvage operation in Guyana and we were supporting those studies that this Government has rejected. In the case of sugar, there was no reason with the support offered to sustain the economy since it is not Government’s fund that has been sustaining the industry.”
He said the investments made by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank in the industry had strengthened the then Government’s resolve to save the sector.
“We are willing to have the studies done that can be used to buttress their positions, to strengthen their hands to either go this way or that,” he said
Meanwhile, Ali said the PPP believes in the sugar industry. “We believed that it is viable, sustainable and can survive and withstand the internal and external pressures. What we embarked on was a process of modernisation of improving the revenue stream of the industry. That is why we did the packaging plant at Enmore… additional revenue stream that have tremendous value.”
Despite recommendations to privatise the local sugar industry and expressions of interest from foreign investors, the Opposition says no decision should be made on the future of GuySuCo without an impact assessment is carried out. To this end, Opposition Member of Parliament Irfaan Ali wrote to Second Vice President and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan on the matter.
Dr Roger Luncheon
However at a meeting earlier this month, Government said there had been no social or economic assessments done before and that there was no need for such assessments.
In the letter to Ramjattan, Ali said the Opposition believes that no proper analysis, decision or recommendation on this industry could be derived without a complete social study and assessment of the impact on communities, regions and the country as a whole; a comprehensive economic study of the impact on communities, regions and the country as a whole, and full diversification study with feasibility study, market analysis and comprehensive assessment of each alternative area recommended.
“At our last stakeholder forum, you advised that these studies were not done. We made it clear to you that there is no way you can take an informed decision on this industry that will affect thousands of families, hundreds of communities and businesses and the national economy as a whole without these studies,” Ali outlined in the letter.
He went on to point out that moving forward without any of these analyses on the sugar industry would be like “shooting in the dark”. “We will never play with the livelihood of tens of thousands of Guyanese directly and indirectly and the health of Guyana’s economy in such manner. I therefore propose that if these documents continue to be unavailable, the next meeting focuses on developing a plan of action to have these reports, studies, documents and assessment completed,” the Opposition Parliamentarian said in this letter to Ramjattan.
According to the CDB Mechanisation Report December 2014, “The sugar industry still contributes around five per cent of GDP; provides direct employment for approximately 16,000 (in 2013) (95 per cent male); supports over 300 services providers; and is the third largest contributor of foreign exchange. It also plays a critical socio-economic and environmental role in the predominantly low-income coastal communities where cultivation and processing.”
Agriculture Minister Noel Holder had explained in a subsequent interview with <<<Guyana Times>>> that due to time constraints and the need to resolve the operating expenses at the Guyana Sugar Corporation, Government could not conduct a social and economic impact assessment before closing down estates.
