– says local content, capacity building to remain priorities
The GCCI executives. From left, Treasurer Gavin Ramsoondar, President Timothy Tucker, Senior Vice President Gerry Gouveia Jr, Secretary Shaleeza Shaw and Junior Vice President Kester Hutson
Timothy Tucker of Rid-O-Pes, who previously served as the Senior Vice Chairman of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), has now ascended to the position of President of the organisation.
According to a statement from the Chamber, Tucker and his fellow executive management committee members were elected at the first statutory meeting on Tuesday, for a one-year term. Taking Tucker’s vacant position of Senior Vice President was Gerald Gouveia Jr of Roraima Airways.
Kester Hutson of Dapper Technology Incorporated was elected as the Junior Vice President, while Gavin Ramsoondar of Zarc Properties Incorporated was elected Treasurer and Shaleeza Shaw of Demerara Bank Limited was elected Secretary.
GCCI had elected a 21-member council last week, also serving a one-year term. Besides the executive members, the council comprises Anjie Lambert of Project Development Consultancy, Dr Vishnu Doerga of ActionInvest Caribbean and Dr Rosh Khan of Social Rank Media.
Also on the council are Anita Ramprasad of MACORP, Briony Tiwarie of BK Supermix. Komal Ramnauth of Kojack Marketing Agency, Keon Howard of Winedaysgy, Candelle Bostwick of Global Compliance Service Guyana, Navin Prashad of MP Insurance Brokers and Consultants and Shaam Outar of A&S Enterprise.
The council also comprises Samuel Arjoon of Guyana Beverages, Cassandra Jaikaran of Ocean Air Logistics, Sean Ramrattan of RRT Enterprise, Rayad Boyce of Sonic Business Service, Carlos Mendonca-Rodrigues of Ricks and Sari and Pradeep Ramoutar of Western Logistics Guyana.
GCCI, under the leadership of the previous President Nicholas Boyer, had taken a prominent position last year in the fight for democracy. Boyer had even penned a letter to former President David Granger, as the wait for election results continued to stretch on.
In an invited comment, the Chamber’s new President said that the GCCI will take a renewed look at local content and building capacity, in light of the burgeoning oil and gas industry in Guyana which started producing oil in 2019.
“GCCI is a business support organisation on development and advancement on Private Sector. We will be focused on local content and capacity building as a step in the direction to achieve an international Private Sector,” Tucker said.
Guyana is expected to significantly ramp up oil production in the coming years. US oil giant ExxonMobil has estimated that there are eight billion barrels of recoverable reserves in the Stabroek Block.
The Payara project, which Exxon is hoping to start in 2023, is expected to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day and contain up to 45 wells inclusive of production, water, and gas injection wells.
Once all approvals are granted, Payara will be the third Field Development Plan (FDP) from Exxon to gain approval. The first FDP that the Guyana Government approved was Liza Phase One, while Liza Phase Two is expected to start up in 2022.
From the Liza Phase One, Guyana has received well over US$100 million in cargo lift and royalty payments. The Government has promised that funds from the country’s oil resources will go towards developing modern infrastructure and ensuring that citizens benefit from improved social services, such as education and health care.
President Dr Irfaan Ali has also been very vocal about Guyana’s Private Sector building its capacity and taking advantage of investment opportunities that come hand in hand with the production of oil and gas.
