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– Sharma Solomon bemoans lack of progress on 2012 agreement
Eight years after the signing of the historic August 21 Agreement between the then Government and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), the region is still without a viable economic plan that would aid in its transformation.
It was the August 21, 2012 agreement that brought an end to a month-long fiery protest that erupted after ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) clashed with the protestors on the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge – killing three innocent men – Ron Somerset, Shemroy Bouyea and Allan Lewis – in the process. Though not initially violent, residents of Linden had been protesting a planned increase in electricity tariffs. The agreement was intended to not only bring an end to the protest but to address issues plaguing the region.
Among committees outlined in the agreement was that of a Regional Economic Committee with a mandate to create an economic development plan for Linden and by extension Region 10, but the Committee was never formulated, due to disagreements on its membership.
Faced with a declining bauxite industry and an unemployment rate of 15.2% (Census, 2012), an Economic Plan was exactly what the region needed to diversify its economy in 2012. Today, eight years after, the situation is no different, Sharma Solomon – the region’s former Chairman said during an exclusive interview with Village Voice Guyana.
Solomon, who, in his capacity as Regional Chairman, had signed the August 21 Agreement, said it was expected that the Committee, in crafting the Regional Economic Plan, would have taken into consideration the region’s natural resources, its challenges and infrastructural needs together with the studies conducted by the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP), the Linden Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Development and Economists, who conducted extensive studies in the region.
Economic plan crucial With Guyana in line to experience unprecedented growth, thanks to its budding Oil and Gas
Industry, Solomon said a Regional Economic Plan is even more important now more than ever. For him, it’s important for the Region to reposition itself to benefit from the windfall while maximising on its natural resources and non-traditional sectors such as agriculture, tourism and trade.
“We are on the verge of a massive infrastructural drive in Guyana and Region 10 produces most of the raw materials that will go into that drive, from stones to laterite to sand to forest products in timber,” Solomon pointed out.
However, he said while Region 10 is one of the country’s resource-rich regions, it is important for Government to put the requisite economic systems in place that would create a conducive environment to attract local and foreign investors, and even allow for the establishment of local and foreign consortiums.
“You have a lot of locals who may own properties, who may own small enterprises but they are not having access to either those investors that would want to come in or even access to loans from banks and institutions that could ensure that they are given that sort of developmental scope. So, I think this is again, where you want to see that sort of economic development agenda that gives consideration to, how do we welcome private investors but at the same time, the people of the region are going to equally benefit, in a mutual way from those investments,” Solomon reasoned.
Outside of sand and laterite, Region 10 is traditionally known for its Bauxite and Timber Industries, and according to Solomon, had the plan been in place, it would have laid the foundation for the region to add value to its resources while expanding other sectors such as Agriculture, Tourism and Trade.
“Once you have such an economic plan, it doesn’t only give consideration to those elements but it first takes into consideration the people of the community, which is the most important resource that we have, the human element. And it would have allowed for people to be able to, have that sort of reorientation based on re-education from a bauxite town into an appreciation of new economic scopes that are available for them to take advantage of,” Solomon reasoned.
LOGGING
In addition to the Bauxite Industry, the Timber Industry plays a critical role in the Region, however, Solomon said the industry leaves must to be desired. He explained that despite commitments from companies such as Bai Shan Lin, forest products are not being processed, and as such, value is not added.
“A lot of concessions were given to Bai-Shan Lin for them to reduce the amount of logs that they were exporting, and mostly focus on value added,” Solomon said, while adding that though the Chinese company took advantage of the forest and tax concessions given to it, it failed to make good on its obligation to ensure that value added outweighed the exported logs.
In 2016, Bai Shan Lin closed operations here in Guyana after its concessions were repossessed by the Guyana Forestry Commission.
No value-added
But while Bai Shan Lin is no longer in the picture, the issue remains the same. “A lot of logs are transported through this region, and what you find, is instead of the benefits of value added [products] returning to communities in the region, they are not, and people are not significantly benefiting, and more than just the value-added aspect, the employment aspect is affected significantly,” he explained. While the region has its role to play, Government, he said, needs to create a conducive environment that would attract investors, who are genuinely interested in establishing wood and furniture manufacturing companies in the district.
AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT
Similarly, he said there is need for government’s investment in the region’s Agriculture Sector to allow not only for an expansion in cash crop and poultry activities but investments that would pave way the produce to be packaged and exported.
“You need also the level of support in terms of value added…You have for example on the Essequibo Coast the pineapple brewers, there is a pineapple processing area for value added, so persons can make pineapple jam,” he pointed out. He said the Ministry of Agriculture should also set up similar facilities in Region 10, “so that farmers can not only produce but at the end of production, know for certain where those products can be processed to add value,” Solomon said.
The former Regional Chairman was also keen on underscoring the need for improved infrastructure in the Regional Agriculture Sector, such as farm to market roads and drainage and irrigation systems. Additionally, he said key to agriculture development is education, and as such, training should be done to educate farmers on various farming techniques, soil types, production and marketing and drainage and irrigation systems.
“I think those initiatives need to be stepped up in terms of having the different farming communities identify and trained persons as to what be the most ideal crops to grow…We know in Linden and Region 10, the soil type is lacking of limestone, so sometimes you have to put more into the soil when you are planting a certain crop, than if you are to plant somewhere else, which takes up not only time but the resources that you don’t have,” he explained.
With a new Regional Council in place, it is the hope of the former Regional Chairman that it would push not only for the establishment of the Regional Economic Committee but a Regional Economic
Plan that would bear fruit for the people of the district.
