A business initiative
The Essequibo Chamber of Commerce and Industry must be congratulated for preparing and submitting a Draft Development Plan for Essequibo to President Bharrat Jagdeo. This was done in response to a challenge thrown out by the President during a cabinet visit to the country. Mr Christopher Ram publicised aspects of the plan in his Business Page in Sunday Stabroek and proposals covered education, health and housing. Essequibo, like the rest of Guyana, has faced problems of lack of development, poor infrastructure and unemployment. The resulting stagnation has led to continuing emigration. People need to see that something positive is happening and it is therefore an encouraging development when a local organisation like the Chamber makes an input that shows that it is not just riding with the punches and hoping that someone, somewhere will do something to help but is prepared to get involved and help create some momentum. That gives people, in Essequibo and in the rest of Guyana, some hope. And hope and confidence are the ingredients so sadly lacking today that hold us back from making rapid progress. One step organisations like the Essequibo Chamber can take without delay is to get directly involved in working with investors and promoting investment in their own region. They should not leave this to central government or to GoInvest or to anyone else. Such investments will directly benefit their region and provide jobs and they should do everything they can to help investors overcome problems they may encounter. It is quite normal for Chambers of Commerce and Industry overseas to meet and help potential investors. For example, the Draft Development Plan refers to a proposal submitted to the government since l99l for a concession which forms part of an initiative to set up a US$3 million plywood plant. The Chamber should themselves try to find out exactly what has held this up and what, if anything, they can do to help. As experienced local businessmen they will know their way around and may be able to break bottlenecks or open doors. The cattle industry and coconuts are identified in the plan as major areas for development. The chamber should run with this ball and actively try to promote arrangements and incentives that will expedite developments in these areas. As Mr Ram points out it is disappointing that none of their ideas was taken into account in the budget. Politicians don't create development, they facilitate it by having intelligent policies and making decisions expeditiously. It is organisations like the Chamber that can create development by putting pressure on the government to respond to their needs, which should be clearly worked out and articulated. The more the Chamber and other similar organisations get involved, the more chance there is of building momentum and that critical mass that is necessary for a take off and to liberate the still largely dormant energies of the population.
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