The demand for aggregate will be so enormous in 2023 that the Government of Guyana is strongly considering outsourcing, as neighbouring Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago are also experiencing the same shortage. This is according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.
VP Jagdeo, who was addressing prospective part-time workers in Region Four explained that with the amount of infrastructural road work planned next year, Guyana cannot meet the demand it needs to complete projects slated to commence in 2023.
He outlined that Government will require six million tonnes of aggregate. “We need 10 times more quarry products that we can produce…We may have to explore bringing in stone from Canada or some other part of the world if we want to keep the building programme going for the government sector,” VP Jagdeo said.
VP Jagdeo said that at the national level, Guyana can produce only a small percent of aggregate. He noted that while there should not be panic, he noted that the government is exploring various options to keep the construction sector going; including outsourcing.
“We need next year, about six million tonnes of crusher-run and stones for the road programmes. That’s the public sector alone, leaving out the private sector, all the buildings and construction. With the new quarries coming on stream, we’ll probably be able to produce 10 percent of that, about 600,000 tonnes,” the official said.
The current administration also plans to undertake a massive infrastructural development programme that will focus heavily on community development.
VP Jagdeo said, “Now, we’re going back to the roads in the villages and towards the city to start fixing those up but we need aggregates. You can have a big programme but you don’t have material and labour to implement the programme. And that has become a challenge here.”
