Government trying to cushion impact of high fuel cost
- President cautions some increases will pass on to consumers
Georgetown, GINA, July 9, 2005
Government continues to examine additional ways to save consumers from the brunt of worldwide rising oil prices nonetheless; President Bharrat Jagdeo is cautioning citizens that there is a limit to which Government can cushion the effects.
During a televised interview today with NCN News Editor-in-Chief Wilfred Cameron, the Head of State said some of the effects will be felt by consumers.
“We are working on that. We are trying to keep the fuel cost down as far as possible and I hope that people understand that. We are trying to keep cost of living down so that these prices would not pass through in a serious way to the cost of living, but there are limits to what we can do,” the President said.
Rising fuel prices have caused Government to significantly reduce Consumption Tax on several occasions on fuel. The latest development, President Jagdeo said, is active discussion on the issue of hydropower for Guyana.
“In the long run we have to do that. We have to provide cheaper electricity to people. The only way we can do that is through renewable resources. We are discussing hydropower and we have already awarded the contract in Skeldon to produce 30 megawatts of power from burning bagasse. Hopefully, when all these things come on stream, we can see some cheaper electricity and if the fuel prices fall, then the surcharge that the Guyana Power and Light Company is charging will drop,” President Jagdeo said.
The President recalled that the last fuel crisis in Guyana in the 1970s resulted in long lines at fuel stations and severe shortages, even though the prices were lower than what they are today.
He noted that about five years ago the price per barrel of crude oil was US$10-US$12. Today it is about US$60 per barrel. Guyana imports refined oil, which is more expensive.
“Because of the increases we have adjusted the taxes to cushion the impact, so they do not pass on to the consumers,” he said.
At present, the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) is importing fuel free of tax.
“So any increase in the world market prices will pass through to the consumers. If they do not do this then they would not have enough money to buy fuel the next time to keep the electricity on,” he said.
The President noted that additional monies were also provided to the Guyana Water Incorporated to keep the rates down, and a special waiver is now in place to avoid pensioners paying for the high cost of water.
The taxes on gasoline and dieseline have been adjusted to keep the balance, as these are major concerns, the President said, but it is still impossible for consumers not to feel the impact.
“This would have a major impact. It is costing so many things. The capital programme is going to be more expensive,” he said.
The President said the rising fuel prices are due to the increased demands from large economies such as India and China; the instability in the Middle East and the recent hurricane threats to the US refineries.
“It is a major problem for us. We are struggling at the Government level to keep things normal,” he said.
However, the Head of State assured that there would not be lines, but some of the hardships will be passed on to consumers.
President displeased with pace of implementation of State projects, hails private investments
Georgetown, GINA, July 9, 2005
Government has invested heavily in its capital and other programmes to improve the lives of Guyanese, but many of these projects are being unnecessarily stalled because of sloth of public officers among other factors.
This is according to President Bharrat Jagdeo, who, during a televised interview today, strongly condemned the pace at which Government projects are being implemented and executed across the country.
“This is a major problem we have when money is allocated to various Ministries and Regions and it is not spent, or alternatively, when we give out the contracts, the slow pace of implementation by some of these contractors or substandard work has caused problems,” the President observed.
“This is my big worry…it's not just projects; fixing the water, road or electricity, it is a service to our people because every time we delay doing these things, we are denying our people a service. That is what I keep saying to the public servants and those who are responsible: you are there to provide a service to our people. You are the public servants. Hopefully we can step up the pace of implementation so that we can create more jobs too,” he said.
The Head of State noted that the low implementation rate of Regional budgets is a primary reason for stalled projects.
“I have been pressing the Regions and the others to do more. I looked at the figure for the Regional spending of their capital programmes and by June of this year, one Region had spent two per cent of its budget. Six months have passed and they spent two per cent of their budget, another Region, three per cent of their budget and another one eight per cent of their budget. No Region had spent more than 21 per cent of their budget and we are into the seventh month of the year,” he said.
According to the President, the problem is one of implementation.
“You just have too many public officers who are not dong their job. If I had not asked for these figures, then come year end, we would have to send people in from the Ministry of Finance to help them accelerate their programmes and the projects would not be completed. From last year they brought forward more than $300M of projects because they could not complete them,” he added.
The President said that these incomplete projects are often blamed on Central Government, as many of them are promises made by his Administration, including himself. However, in many instances there are problems with contractors and lack of supervision. The President recalled that he committed $71M towards r oads, school and drainage and irrigation at Wakenaam in May 2004, of which $60M was made available, apart from the island’s regular allocation, to repair roads. That project is yet to be completed.
“The Ministry of Public Works took a very long time to get the contractor in place. I am very unhappy about that. He is in place about six months now. When I found out just recently about the project, they said he had just put the sand and loam on the road causing additional problems. Almost a year has passed since I allocated the money and the work has not been done. The people in Wakenaam are still suffering because of bad roads. So I said to them terminate his contract and go back out to tender. Hopefully we’ll get a better contractor,” he said.
When the President was at Wakenaam, he assured that the road works will start immediately after the rainy season, which would have been in the latter part of 2004.
Additionally, the Head of State had also committed to repairing a deplorable road at Unity, East Coast Demerara more than a year ago. The Ministry of Public Works had sent an engineer, who was accompanied by residents, to inspect the road. The wrong road was subsequently repaired.
“They did a road that was done three years ago…these things make me really angry when there is malaise, laziness and people do not focus on their work. It makes us look as if we are not keeping our promises. I thought that this road was completed because the people have been lobbying me for years now to have the road done,” the President lamented.
The President noted that Central Government continues to monitor implementation and tardiness within the Public Sector across the country, with the view to speeding up projects’ completion.
“It is a big challenge,” the President said.
He strongly urged public officers to improve on the services provided to citizens.
On the brighter side, President Jagdeo hailed the pace of Private Sector development in Guyana.
“I am very pleased with what is happening on the private side, more investments. We have seen a large number of investments, small projects going ahead and that is good,” the President said.
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President extends condolences on hurricane, bombing deaths
- Government condemns terrorism
Georgetown, GINA, July 9, 2005
The Guyana Government has expressed sympathies to the relatives, friends and countries that lost lives in the most recent hurricane to hit the Region and the recent bomb blast in London.
President Bharrat Jagdeo today expressed condolences to Cuba and Haiti for their losses caused by hurricane Dennis, which killed 10 in Cuba, 22 in Haiti, injured several others and caused panic in Jamaica before heading towards the Gulf of Mexico.
“We are going to try to help in whatever way we can. Of course our sympathies go out to the families who have lost lives and of course to those countries too. This is a seasonal thing and it puts a tremendous strain on their economies as every hurricane season they have to deal with this,” he said.
The President also strongly condemned the recent terrorist act that killed about 50 people in an underground train and a double-decker bus in London. Several persons remain missing, as searches are ongoing.
“It is reprehensible. We have a clear position that terrorism is intolerable. It should not be used as a justification for any cause. We unequivocally condemn the terrorist act in London and express our sympathies with the British Government and people. We are constantly in solidarity with all the peoples of the world who have been victims of terrorism,” he said.
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CARICOM agrees to increased lobby against EC sugar proposal
- President Jagdeo urges more local support for lobbying efforts
Georgetown, GINA, July 9, 2005
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government have agreed to intensify lobbying efforts against the European Commission’s proposal to sever preferential treatment being granted to sugar producing nations.
This is out of the 26 th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government held in Castries, St. Lucia from July 3-6.
Reporting on the meeting today during a televised interview with NCN’s News Editor-in-Chief Wilfred Cameron, President Jagdeo said the issue of sugar was discussed at length at the Summit.
“It was decided that we have this window of opportunity to lobby between now and November-December when the Ministers meet in Europe to approve or disapprove of the Commission’s proposal that was put forward and that we should lobby them to change their views,” the President said.
The European Union (EU) proposes to cut the prices paid to sugar producing countries by 39 per cent, starting within the next two years (2007). This will initially result in a US$93M loss for CARICOM and an eventual US$153M loss in revenue per year.
Possible consequences of the implementation of such a proposal by the EU are devastation to CARICOM countries’ finances, employment and disappearance of linkages of the sugar industry. For Guyana, it means the loss of about US$45M annually, 30,000 jobs that directly and indirectly relate to sugar, a loss of 17 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and one-sixth of the country’s foreign exchange among other losses.
CARICOM is arguing for a cut of less than 37 per cent, starting in 2008 and implemented transitionally- over a three-year period, instead of abruptly.
“This was promised to us by several key European figures, including Prime Minister Tony Blair but, we are very surprised that his Government seems to be one of the leading prominences of the Commission’s proposal. We recognize that we have to step up our lobbying efforts and to inform the people of the Region,” President Jagdeo said.
The proposal could wipe out the industry in many CARICOM States, and in some countries, the industry has already closed, as is the case with St. Kitts and Nevis. This would kill the sugar industry in every Caribbean country with possible exception of Guyana and Belize, the President added.
“I think the whole Region has to take this battle on and to pursue it. I hope that at home we get the support of more people for this battle, because what is at stake here is the future of our sugar industry,” President Jagdeo said.
The Head of State also hailed the strong solidarity of CARICOM States on the issue at the level of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the Less Developed Countries (LDCs).
He assured Guyanese that Government is trying its best to prepare for the possible implementation of the proposal. Government has embarked on a plan to keep the industry alive, inclusive of a US$135M Skeldon Modernisation Project, but the cuts would affect this plan.
“In fact our restructuring programme is advanced beyond any other CARICOM country, because years ago we saw the possibility of these changes, nevertheless, if these reforms go through they would still create severe hardships and we are there lobbying all the time,” he said.
Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation Clement Rohee and President Bharrat Jagdeo have both been leading lobbying efforts overseas.
“We are doing all we can to ensure the industry remains sustainable, but we need the support,” he said.
President Jagdeo noted that diversification of the economies of sugar producing nations takes years.
The Head of State urged persons who do not understand the issues regarding the threats to the sugar industry to desist from writing about them. He pointed to several published letters and articles in the newspapers, which illustrate that the writers do not fully comprehend the issues and “they may create confusion.”
President Jagdeo also noted that the United Nations Special Envoy sent to the CARICOM meeting has expressed solidarity with CARICOM’s position and has issued a statement imploring the European Commission to consider the CARICOM lobby.
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