Caribbean will remain a zone...

power, not through the ballot box, but through the barrel of a gun. Some spectators – and we have a few around here in Guyana – who are of the belief that they can take power violently, were shocked to the reality that it would not be allowed here. What they thought was a “harmless” exercise to wrest power from an old voodoo dictator, they were rudely awakened to the reality that it would not be tolerated here.

Whether in their mind they thought this was justifiable reason to take power by force, it did not matter; what does matter is power is acquired through the ballot box, and nowhere else! End of discussion! After all, we here in Guyana could have reasoned the same way as did the “revolutionary” crew in Grenada, having been burdened for decades by a voodoo dictator holding on to illegal power. But

← From page 4 we didn’t, because that is not the esteemed way to go.

We, on the other hand, toughed it out the right way; that is, the legal way. We fought for free and fair elections through the courts, and with great help from the International Community, and we won. We were not intimidated by Burnham’s Voodoo, or by his rigging pandemic. All through those long years, we became more and more strengthened in our resolve to free ourselves from those shackles of backwardness. Quite thankfully, we were successful all over again in 2020. So Guyana, yes; all of the Caribbean will remain a zone of peace, and one of free and fair elections.

Respectfully, Neil Adams the country which in turn would lend to an attractive investment climate for global and domestic investments.

In so doing, it is crucial for the government to stimulate a broad framework of political, economic, social, and geopolitical stability, which are the prerequisite conditions that will enable the government to pursue its transformative economic and development agenda in a sustainable manner, while building a prosperous nation.

Noteworthily, the government has managed to obtain greater in-country value from the Stabroek Block PSA through improved contract administration. In 2015, for example, local content-spend accounted for less than one per cent of cost oil, which is capped at 75 per cent, which has increased markedly to over 10 per cent of cost oil. As the country continues to build capacity, the in-country value is expected to increase significantly and consistently.

Another major achievement in this regard is the gas-to-shore project (as previously stated), for which the government managed to secure an agreement from ExxonMobil to finance the gas pipeline infrastructure. This is a major component of the development from cost oil with an estimated cost of around US$900 million –US$1.3 billion. This is a transformational energy project aimed at reducing energy cost by at least 50 per cent which, in turn, will create a more competitive business environment, especially for the manufacturing sector and industrial activities, and translate to more disposable income at the household level. To this end, a conservative cost-benefit analysis of this investment shows that the net positive benefits or impact of the project on the economy over the next two decades is about US$20 billion, representing 2.4 times (2021) GDP, and 10 times the total estimated cost of the project.

The government has effectively set the framework to renegotiate all of the other nine existing oil- and-gas exploration licences with the new fiscal terms and PSA following any successful discoveries before moving into production.

This is in keeping with the Vice-President’s commitment to do so as Opposition Leader in 2019.

Yours sincerely, J.

Bhagwandin