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Apr 25, 2016 Letters
Dear Editor,
I am very happy and delighted to read in the Guyana Chronicle of April 23, 2016 edition under the captioned “Guyana to receive £53.2 million from UK”. The article caught my attention so I decided to read it see what is it for and found it to be for Infrastructures Development, something that Guyana really needs to achieve its potential. I then remembered that recently the India Government provides sum US $50 million for Infrastructure Development also.
As I read this article, several things crossed my mind and what keep coming to my mind more is the need for Civil Society and Private Sector Involvement in the Conceptualization, Consultation and Design of these Infrastructure Projects for Guyana. The donor and funding agencies for any projects should make Civil Society and Private Sector involvement as a criterion before releasing any funds to any Country. Also, some of these Infrastructure Development Projects can be Public Private Partnership.
I can vividly remember that when the IADB was making the funds available for the East Bank Demerara Road Expansion Project – Providence to Diamond, several public consultations were done with the Civil Society and the Private Sector.
Although the Grove to Diamond Project is a major failure, at the conceptualization and design phase, the Civil Society and the Private Sector had the opportunities to be part of the project and provide significant inputs into this project. What was the short coming with this project is the provision of progress reports to the public on regular intervals and continuous basis along with the challenges that the project faces to meet the completion deadline during the implementation phase.
The project was stalled and now restarted and no public disclosure (correct me if I am wrong here and direct me where I can find these disclosures) was made on the extension cost, whether the defunct contractors get paid and how much was paid to them, liquidated damages for the breach of contracts with regards to completion date, etc.
The IADB had started a Civil Society Forum which was aimed at developing vibrant and organized Civil Society Organizations in Guyana. Also, CARICOM was working on a Civil Society Charter for the Caribbean so as to make them vibrant and very vocal on public matters and interests to make Governments more accountable to their citizens. I am yet to see what ever happen to these initiatives and the status of it should be made public, and if they are still in process after so many years, information and awareness is severely lacking.
Guyana and Guyanese has long being suffering for progressive development to upgrade their standard of living and with the involvement and inclusion of all, this can be realized earliest. For Guyana to move forward there is a dire need for the involvement of all in national development, a bottom up approach. Guyanese have to more vibrant and get more involved in a more formal way to have their economic and social concerns addressed. President Granger has been talking about this on a regular basis and has illustrated his commitments by having Local Government Election held, established more Municipalities in Guyana and also gives Guyanese the assurance that he will ensure that all Regions have their own Towns.
He also highlighted that he would like to see Regional Government becomes more autonomous and all government services are provided in each regions, something that has to be done with a Strategic Roll out Plan. I also attended a public forum recently at the St Stanislaus College in Brickdam, Georgetown and heard the Minister of State speaking about facilitating the establishment of Community Development Councils (CDC) all across Guyana.
The Minister presentation was very interesting and seems to provide a very good opportunity for every citizen’s voice to be heard and be involved in the Economic Development of the Communities and their own livelihood. The establishment of these CDCs will also provide a platform and structure to address social and economic illness within communities one not manipulated for other reasons.
I think that the APNU-AFC Government has an opportunity to become a government that will have the respects from the Citizens once they become more transparent accountable, provide equal opportunities, respect freedom of speech and respect and adapt professional and technical opinions.
Also, Guyanese with the support from Donor and Funding Agencies can make governments become more transparent and accountable if they develop and implement policies for public disclosures and mandatory for Civil Society and Private Sector involvement in all phases on national projects. Governments and Donor and Funding Agencies can also benefits significantly from highly professional and technical inputs from the involvements of Civil Society and Private Sector at no cost.
Based on the above, the Government should start develop if they do not have one, an National Infrastructure Development Plan for the next 5 years with the involvement of Civil Society and Private Sector. This plan must incorporate Cost Benefits Analysis, Return on Investments via the incremental economic activities that will arise as a direct result of these investments and revenue generation for Governments via direct and indirect taxation, etc.
There should also be a framework for regular meetings and update with regard to the implementation, execution and challenges of these projects. The adaption of such a methodology will see Governments and its Citizens enjoying more value for money and all projects will be beneficial and not left lying as white elephant as some development projects in Guyana. In concluding, I am appealing to the Government and the Donor and Funding Agencies to start involve the Civil Society and Private Sector on a more vibrant and constructive basis.
Roubinder Rambarran, MBA
Business Development Consultant
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