CPL is in Guyana, and, every night, millions of people around the world are glued to their television sets, watching and wishing they were in Guyana. The atmosphere is so pregnant with excitement that it even seems to permeate the screens and fill people’s hearts with joy. Even as the CPL excites people and the world, the US EXIM Bank is about to approve a loan to support the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) Project, which in late 2025 would lead to an instant 50% reduction in electricity costs for every single household and every single business in Guyana.
A technical team hired by the EXIM Bank of the USA concluded, after a thorough feasibility study, that the project is feasible and would recover its cost in a period that is an investor’s dream.
This is not Jagdeo or the PPP telling the country this; this is an independent, high-quality feasibility study. But the PNC-led naysayers insist that the project would be a white elephant; that it is a reckless venture by the Irfaan Ali-led PPP government; and that, far from reducing electricity rates, it would burden the Guyanese people with more loans.
There is not a single project since 1992 that the PPP has initiated that the naysayers have not criticized as reckless and as not needed. Each of these projects has become part of people’s daily lives and an integral part of the socio-economic architecture of Guyana. The Berbice Bridge and the Hope Canal come to mind immediately. The naysayers have had nothing positive to say about any project. They always find a reason to conclude Guyana would be better off without it.
CPL 2024 is now winding down to the playoffs and, fittingly, in Guyana. Guyana once again is in the playoffs, even with games remaining on its schedule. Players, no matter which team they belong to, and spectators, no matter whom they support, agree that there is no place in the CPL like Guyana. The atmosphere is simply dazzling. Whether the Guyana Amazon Warriors repeat or not as champions, and I am betting they would, all Guyana would be proud.
What the world is watching now as the CPL is winding down in Guyana makes people want to come, not just to see the cricket, but to experience the amazing things happening in Guyana. There is a feeling, that intangible feeling, that tells you something special is happening to a country and its people.
In a trending social media blog, people are calling the Providence Stadium the Bharrat Jagdeo Stadium. Guyanese are proud of what the Providence Stadium is showcasing to the world – a nation where the people are brimming with excitement, not just because of the Guyana Amazon Warriors and cricket, but about their country.
Not so long ago, when BJ was President in 2006/2007, the naysayers among us, led by the PNC, rejected construction of the National Stadium at Providence, deeming it a “white elephant”, a “waste of money”, and a reckless expenditure of the people’s tax revenues. Today the National Stadium at Providence is the pride of the nation. Supporters and political leaders of all political parties, Guyanese, are showcasing their country through the national stadium.
Make no mistake, the stadium at Providence stands majestic because of the vision and tenacity of a political leader – Bharrat Jagdeo. It was constructed at a time when Guyana was still grappling with the suffocating impact of a burdensome foreign debt which the PNC had left on the backs of the Guyanese people; more than 900% of Guyana’s GDP, making Guyana one of the most indebted nations on earth. World Cup Cricket was coming to the Caribbean for the first time, and Bourda was deemed not suitable to host World Cup Cricket. Jagdeo and his Government decided they would find a way for World Cup Cricket to come to Guyana. With an EXIM Bank of India loan, the stadium was built. Today, no matter who people voted for or will vote for, every Guyanese agrees that the National Stadium was a worthy investment.
But, in addition to the stadium, Guyana needed more and better-quality hotel rooms. BJ led the initiative that saw many new hotels being constructed, including the present Ramada Princess Hotel at Providence. The naysayers screamed that the Government was pursuing a policy that would leave many private investors broke. Today those many hotels represent just a fraction of Guyana’s needs.
When, later, Bharrat Jagdeo’s PPP government decided to pursue a higher quality of hotel rooms to catalyze the tourism industry, the naysayers again were in top form. They called the Marriot a “white elephant” that would become derelict. They claimed it would never be able to have its rooms at full capacity, and would become a huge expense for the Guyanese people. Imagine where we would be without the Marriot in Georgetown! Imagine that today, at least 10 new international-branded hotels are completing or about to start construction, bringing in another almost 2,000 high-quality hotel rooms.
In 2014, funding for a new Demerara River bridge was secured, and a feasibility study was done. Funding was secured and construction started on the expansion and modernization of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and reconstruction of the four-lane East Coast Highway from Georgetown. When in 2020 the PPP came back into Government, the bridge was still a paper thing, and the CJIA and the East Coast Highway were incomplete. The PPP completed those projects, and by the first half of 2025, the new Demerara River bridge will be commissioned.
The naysayers just do not learn. They are now opposed to bridge tolls being removed, a new stadium in Berbice, a new Berbice River bridge, and a new hospital in New Amsterdam. They are visionless and clueless. For them, Guyana will be better off without bridges and highways, and without any new development. They want us to stay where we were in the 1960s. But people know better.
