“Guyanese can be assured that the coalition Government will not be intoxicated by oil. It will manage this new resource in a responsible manner for the benefit of present and future generations.”
Those were the words of President, David Granger earlier today at the 20th Biennial Delegates Congress of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R). The event will last for the next two days and will be facilitated at Congress Place, Sophia.
There, the Head of State and Party Leader acknowledged that Guyana will soon become an oil-producing state. Granger said that this will be the most transformative economic development in the country’s lifetime. He said that the management of this sector is best done under an inclusionary system so that the valuable resource can be developed and used for the benefit of all Guyanese.
Granger said that the coalition Government, conscious of the country’s inexperience and inadequate human resources in this new field, has been prudently laying the groundwork for the petroleum sector to be managed in accordance with international best practices.
In this regard, the President said, “We established a Department of Energy on August 1, 2018, under my personal and direct authority within the Ministry of the Presidency. This new Department will ensure that a sound organizational, operational, legislative and regulatory framework will be put in place to manage the sector.”
He noted that the Department is recruiting international and national experts to assist in this task. In addition to this, the President said that the Government has every intention to establish a Natural Resource Fund to ensure that the revenues accrued from oil and gas are used prudently.
A Green Paper on the establishment of the Fund has been released to the public for their comments and ideas for improvement. The Fund is expected to be in place by 2020.
