MOTION FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE ESTIMATES OF EXPENDITURE FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2021
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to begin by saying how proud I am to be part of a Government that gets to put Guyana back together again after the calamity in which the APNU/AFC Coalition placed us.
Since the PPP/C’s Government return to power, confidence has been restored in the economy, investors are flocking Guyana, there is a breath of fresh air that fills this land with optimism and citizens could, once again, look forward to a bright future with the People’s Progressive Party Civic.
Budget 2021, quite fittingly, is themed: A Path to Recovery, Economic Dynamism and Resilience. It captures President Dr. Ali’s vision for our country and makes clear the focus of this Government. We are focused on greater and better prosperity for all the people of Guyana. We are not busy acquiring gold bands and beds off the backs of public servants. We are focused on returning Guyana to glory. While the Members across the floor are busy making noise and spouting useless cometary, the Members on this side cannot wait to begin implementing the plans and policies of this PPP/C Government. These are plans and policies that would put money in the pockets of every Guyanese, rebuild the security and health sectors, provide jobs and, above all, bring hope back to our people.
The Members across the floor are not bothered by the challenges that are facing our fellow citizens. No, they want to rabble-rouse. The truth is, they cannot discuss any budget in any sensible way because they do not have the knowledge or skills to do so. More importantly, they cannot do so because they have failed. The APNU/AFC Government failed to implement the lofty plans that they gabbed about while in Government. They failed to come up with the right strategies to tackle the many challenges that faced our country, even with the goodwill they enjoyed in 2015. They have failed and they know it.
This nation cannot and must never forget the havoc that they wreaked on our fledgling democracy less than a year ago. We must never forget the war they declared on this nation when they refused to give up power. We must never forget that it is the PPP/C, along with all the other guardians of democracy, that fought desperately for five long months to ensure that the votes casted were for the party for which the majority of this country favoured, and that it was accounted for. In the face of challenges that threatened to undo us and a global pandemic at that time, the PPP/C, under the leadership of His Excellency, President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
It is the PPP/C that has the knowledge, the skills and the competence to lead this country and to save it from the hell in which the APNU/AFC had plunged it. We want to get on with development. We want to get this country back on track and Budget 2021 sees us firmly on the path that could only lead us to success. When one listens to the previous speakers, including the last speaker and those from the Opposition, one wonders if one is living in the same country. One wonders if these are the same persons, for many whom were in Office for the last five years… Much has been said that they have been claiming that they were not consulted, but they have refused to recognise a People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government and a President, a duly elected President. If you do not recognise us, how could we recognise you as the leading Opposition?
They criticised the allocations for the school cash grants. If that is not laughable, then what is? In 2015, they removed the programme, completely, and did not even gave $1 dollar. They are now here in this House criticising the amount of $15,000 for every child. They have criticised the COVID-19 cash grant programme. When many of us here, for the five months, were fighting to ensure that our votes were recognised; when many of them in this Dome, from the Opposition side, who were here, daily, in the recount process, were controlling the persons, were controlling the budget and were controlling the resources of the State… While we were going through a COVID-19 pandemic, not $1 dollar, not one resource, not one major activity was done or not one hamper was sent to communities as relief to persons who were suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. You were in Government at that time but, yet, you come here to criticise the COVID-19 cash grant programme.
Much has been said about the public service. They probably forgot when the then Minister of State, now Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Lt. Col. (Ret’d) Harmon, in a circular in 2015 indicated that candidates in elections that could not be in the public service and had to be professionalised. They terminated over 2000 public servants; from cleaners to Permanent Secretaries (PSs), including two of whom are here sitting on this side of the Government. They replaced them with candidates and activists who were embedded in every Ministry and agency.
Much has been said. They are asking about free education that we promised at the university level. The PPP/C ‘s manifesto is there for all to see and it is for all to read. If one has a comprehension deficit, then the many courses that are being offered by the Hon. Minister of the Public Service I would ask that many of them apply and, this time, we would, legitimately, allow them to have the scholarships. We have committed that we would deliver, and we would give free university education, but we never said that it was going to happen in our first budget presentation. We said within our first term.
I am reminded by the last speaker and I am wondering if this was the same person, in addition to coming to the Opposition Office, in 2018 praised the People’s Progressive Party/Civic. The General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) said that teachers received more in terms of salary and other benefits when the PPP/C Government was in Office during the pre-2015 era, in comparison to what was being given to them, at that time, by the APNU/AFC Coalition Government. Who said that? In addition to that, the Hon. Member forgot that the then Minister said and called the teachers, who had to strike, selfish. The Hon. Keith Scott called the teachers selfish. Did we forget this? Avaricious, greedy, is what he called the Amerindians. Did we forget this? We have Members from the other side who are coming here and pretending that they did not just come out of Office.
There are claims by the former Minister of Education that the students only topped under the APNU/AFC. Let me repeat for you because you would not understand the years when Guyanese topped in the Caribbean: In the years 1997, 1999, 2003 – you do not want to hear it – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017. You could come here and pretend.
I stand here proud, today, as the Minster of Housing and Water to share with this House and the citizens who are paying attention, not those who are making noise on the other side. Home ownership is, arguably, the main goal of every Guyanese citizen. This PPP/C has always made housing a priority. The last Government decentralised housing. We set up a Ministry of Housing and Water. What did they do? They put housing as a subset under a Ministry, just like what they did with the labour department.
Today, home ownership is, arguably, the main goal of every Guyanese citizen, and we have made housing affordable and a priority. Today, many areas that were populated with bushes are home-thriving communities. Thanks to the foresight and the vision of the PPP/C Government. In the last five years of the incompetent Coalition Government the housing drive, which was left by our now President and the then Minister of Housing and Water, was derailed. Their ideas for housing were weak and inadequate.
Be reminded that it was the Coalition Government that played musical chairs with the housing and water sectors. Multiple Ministers, board chairmen, and directors fired the public servants and, yet, they did not and could not clear the backlog and reduce the processing for housing applications or even meet the target that they had set. They were too busy, for example, getting their husbands into contracts and even asking for laptops. They promised to end discrimination regarding allocation of lands, yet our Learned Attorney General is now tasked with recovering hundreds of acres of lands that they doled out to their friends and families. They promised affordable housing to teachers, public servants, nurses, and the disciplined forces, among others, and they did not deliver. They promised incentives to the private sector to reduce construction costs and, again, could not deliver. They could not keep any of the promises that they made in their own manifesto.
Imagine, as has been said, between 2010 and 2015, more than 22,000 plus house lots were given out to citizens by the PPP/C Government. Astonishingly, under the APNU/AFC 7,534 house lots were given out in five years. Of that amount, more than 2,000 were allocated as part of the elections gimmick. During the post elections period, while we were fighting for democracy, they were busy allocating lots to some of their cronies. In fact, even when the Coalition had one big idea for housing, they could not get even that right. They had the big idea of introducing duplexes. They proceeded to have contractors construct duplexes, but they did not think to amend the Condominium (Regulation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act to include this type of house. The result is that those citizens who invested their hard-earned dollars into these houses cannot get insurances or titles. Even more worrying is that the banks are not amenable to holding duplexes as collateral. How could any Minister of Housing, with an ounce of sense, allow this to happen? No wonder, even though they inherited a robust housing and water sector, it was plunged into chaos for four years. It falls to us, this PPP/C Government, to, once again, rescue the housing sector.
By midyear, the Hon. Minister of Legal Affairs will be bringing legislation to amend the Condominium (Regulation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act to allow banks to accept titles for those houses, insurance companies to issue policies to those homeowners and, more importantly, to allow these homeowners to access loans for expansion. Because of these and many failures of the Coalition in the housing and water sectors, and every other sector for that matter, the housing sector has received an allocation of $8.9 billion, of which $6 billion is for infrastructure and utility works in new and existing areas, all aiding and advancing our commitment to allocating a minimum of 50,000 house lots to citizens within our first term in Office. In 2021 alone, we intend to allocate 10,000 house lots and issue a minimum of 7,000 land titles to citizens, many of whom have been waiting for years to own their own homes. Let the House be reminded that, in just four months of being in Office, 3,600 house lots and 413 titles were handed over to citizens. This year, we will also build 1,000 homes for young people and low-income earners. Residents of Region 10 will also benefit from the construction of over 1,000 homes through a public/private partnership, with community involvement in every step and every process.
Over these five years, citizens in all ten regions will benefit from the construction of new roads, bridges, water, electricity, distribution networks, and improved drainage. New developments, including water, the construction of roads, bridges, drainage, and electrical distribution networks will be undertaken to complete infrastructural development works in Region 3, Region 4, Region 5, and Region 6. If you want to hear, these include: Anna Catherina, Cornelia Ida, Edinburgh, Stewartville and Meten-Meer- zorg; in Region 4, there are Cummings Lodge, La Bonne Intention, Annandale, Mon Repos, Providence, Prospect, Little Diamond, Grove, Diamond, Vigilance, Bladen Hall, and Strathspey; in Region 5, there is Experiment; and in Region 6, there is Hampshire, Williamsburg, Ordnance/Fortlands, Number 75 Village and Number 79 Village. Twenty-five kilometres (km) of roads within Regions 3, 4, 5 6, 9, and 10 will be upgraded. Close to 3,278 house lots, for 13,500 citizens, will be delivered this year. These include, in Region 2 – Onderneeming; in Region 3 – Tuschen, Zeelugt, La Parfait Harmonie, Westminster, Onderneeming, Lust En Rust, and Belle West; in Region 4 – Farm, Covent Garden, Providence, Prospect, Perseverance, Peters Hall, Herstelling, Good Hope, Mon Repos, Nonpareil, Hope South, Hope Estate, Hope, and Dochfour; Region 5 – Bath, Hope and Experiment; in Region 6 – Ordnance/Fort lands and Kilcoy/Chesney; in Region 9 – Tabatinga and Culvert City; and in Region 10 – Amelia’s Ward, Linden.
Our 2021 national housing development programme will include the construction of 1,000 low income and young professional housing units. In Region 4, there are Cummings Lodge, Prospect, Providence, Little Diamond, and Great Diamond; in Region 3, there are Onderneeming and Wales; in Region 6 there are Ordnance/Fort Lands, Hampshire, and Williamsburg; and in Region 10, there is Amelias Ward. In addition to that, we will distribute the home improvement subsidies as well as build core homes in La Parfait Harmonie and Sophia. You will be pleased to know, Mr. Speaker, that even recreational facilities have been included.
Outlets to foster and enhance creative aptitudes, this is the future… The future is bright with a People’s Progressive Party/ Civic Government. By the end of 2021, through the Central Housing & Planning Authority (CH&PA), Guyanese will see the commencement of new infrastructural development works in Region 1; in Region 2 – Charity; in Region 3 – Onderneeming; in Region 9 – Lethem; and in Region 10 – Amelia’s Ward.
The hinterland and Amerindian communities are no exception. The record of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic with respect to development in the hinterland community speaks for itself. In the area of housing, we will commence, therefore, this year, the construction of 100 homes within hinterland communities. We will continue the road construction to complete the access road from Great Diamond to Mandela Avenue, with the construction of the four lane Highway and the heavy-duty bridge to connect at Mocha Arcadia. In addition, in excess of 20,000 residents and other users from the East Bank, the West Coast and the West Bank will directly benefit from this new access road and over 100,000 will benefit, indirectly, as part of the housing area that we have developed on the East Bank.
Persons will now, therefore, have a choice to access Georgetown onto the East Bank – they did not have such before. With this work in which our Government is engaged, we are focused on providing our citizens with the best housing interventions.
Not only are we providing affordable housing, not only are we making them sustainable in well-developed communities, we are also ensuring that private sector partners can contribute to the housing drive. To ease of the burden of high construction and material costs, we have removed the value added tax (VAT) from locally produced building and construction materials, including sand, stone, concrete blocks, plywood, logs, and lumber. This means that those persons who have house lots and who are beneficiaries can look forward to paying cheaper prices for building materials. Additionally, we will soon implement a single window approval system for the planning and permission process, which will greatly reduce the processing time.
It is no secret that the process to obtain a planning permit is painstaking, frustrating and a headache. Potential business owners are saddled with the responsibility of running back and forth to a number of Government agencies, including the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and many other places to check on the status of their permits. This PPP/C Government has promised to improve the ease of doing business, and so bottlenecks like those I have just described will negatively affect this goal of ours. Therefore, we must recognise and recalibrate the planning permit process so that it can be more efficient and ultimately more effective.
That is why we will ensure that the necessary investments are made to enhance, strengthen and modernise the capacity of the staff and the technology to ensure that this is in process. I am happy to report that we have already begun the preliminary work to revamp this process. During the next few weeks, all Local Democratic Organs will be provided with a detailed list of documents that must be submitted and a revised building application form. These two measures alone will, significantly, reduce the processing time. The priority of making life easy for our citizens is not limited to house lot allottees.
For the first time, we have made provisions for homeowners to also get extra moneys by raising the low-income mortgage ceiling to $12 million, as well as increasing the ceiling for mortgages, issued by the New Building Society Limited, from $12 million to $15 million. This intervention was highly anticipated by homeowners. This means that their interest rates will be lower and, of course, other commercial banks will now have to become more competitive. This also means that citizens will now be able to access higher loans and, it follows, that they could now do more on their houses; their monthly instalments will be reduced, as a result of lower rates. Overall, the citizens will be the winners.
The key to having great communities is also to ensure that the infrastructure is in place, from the streetlights to green spaces and clean water. Clean water, therefore, means a priority for the Ministry of Housing and Water. Since in office, my team has identified several challenges to assess and distribute water, from a high iron content to a low treated water coverage. High levels of non-revenue water and a marked deficit in accessing water by the hinterland population were compounded by the cruel imposition of value-added tax (VAT) on water, which was borne by some of our most vulnerable citizens and pensioners.
Mr. Speaker. It is important for me to educate this House about the state of the water sector that we inherited. The other side likes to trumpet the name Dr. Richard Van-West Charles. This is his legacy too.
The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) was on the verge of a financial collapse. Despite the steep tariff increase by the previous Government, it had a significant loss of $1.1 billion. So dire was the situation that it had to rely on bank overdraft facilities to finance its operations. Sadly, but predictably for the Coalition’s strategies, overdrafts totalling $270 million did nothing to alleviate its losses. The employment cost skyrocketed since 2015, and the rental of buildings and debt plagued the entity. In August, 2020, GWI’s debt to suppliers totalled $783 million, and even worse, over 5,000 customers were denied service connections because inventory levels of service connection materials, that were required to provide a service, had deteriorated. Also, in August, 2020, the new management inherited over 8,000 water leaks which had been ignored for the period 2015 to August, 2020. But there is good news. Since we came into Government, under the stewardship of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Shaik Baksh, GWI has collected $5.3 billion in revenue, an increase of over $1 billion than in 2019. This is during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Its debt is reduced. It did not access an overdraft facility, and overall, the financial situation of GWI has improved. This happened in less than seven months and without burdening our Treasury. That is the legacy of Dr. Van-West Charles.
Not only have we removed VAT on water, imposed by the previous Government, we have reinstated the water subsidy that was removed. As a result of the removal of VAT on water, consumption that exceeded $1,500 or 14 cubic metres, over 3,000 customers will see their disposable income increase by approximately $107 million a year. With the subsidy reinstatement, more than 26,300 pensioners will be directly impacted by an increase of approximately $300 million in their disposable income. The Government’s national budget initiative for 2021 has, once again, demonstrated our commitment to the people of Guyana by announcing a 5% reduction in water tariffs across the board, targeting all levels of society and all levels of consumers. This initiative, when implemented, is estimated to provide a benefit of an additional $248 million to the people of Guyana for a minimum of 173,000 customers. Overall, the Government’s initiative in the water sector, in less than a year, will provide an estimated $655 million increase in disposable income to the people of Guyana. The GWI, therefore, now operates on a new five-year strategic plan that aligns with our national priorities of providing clean, reliable and affordable water. In this regard, we are focused on increasing access to treated water coverage to 90% to reduce our non-revenue water and modernise the infrastructure. This is a commitment the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) intends to implement.
In conclusion, under seven months, my Ministry has made significant progress in addressing the challenges within the housing and water sectors. We have chartered a course, and our minds are set on meeting our targets. I have absolutely no doubt that we will restore this sector to its former glory and even surpass it. The PPP/C Government is not about talking; it is about doing the work. We are focused on keeping the promises we made to the citizens of this great land of ours and, together, we will.
I, therefore, commend and recommend this 2021 Budget to the House as the path to recovery for our nation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.