The Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI), led by the Stabroek Block co-venturers ExxonMobil Guyana, Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, has funded a Hinterland Poultry Project valued at more than $120 million (US$608,000) to boost the poultry industry in the hinterland regions.
The initiative also called the โEgg Sandwich Projectโ, is the first regional socioeconomic project to be funded by the GGI. It is focused on enabling the hinterland residents to raise their local poultry capacity thereby enhancing consumer access to high-quality local poultry products and economic independence.
Guyana Standard understands that A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on February 22, 2022 with local company, The Consultancy Group (TCG), which is the implementation partner for the project. TCG will work with the Rupununi Livestock Producers Association (RLPA) to grow poultry production in the hinterland.
Explaining their role in the project, TCGโs Lead Consultant Timothy McIntosh said, โOur job is really to take them to a place where theyโre able to take the really fantastic work that theyโve been doing in the Rupununi outwards to the other hinterland regions. Our job is really as stewards to help them along, get them to where they need to be.โ The consultant noted that in 2018, an estimated $300 million in poultry meat was imported into the Rupununi from Brazil. This project, he said, can benefit some 25,000 people from the hinterland as it will have a positive impact by reducing imports, and providing a fresh and healthy alternative.
President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, noted that the project is geared towards sustainable development as part of the Greater Guyana Initiative. โIt is exciting. It is where we implement the GGI. A lot of it so far, weโve been getting traction with the educational part of it, whether itโs TVET, the University of Guyana โฆ this is the first significant project which is getting to the sustainable economy part. Education, of course, builds that foundation but this is helping more practically,โ he said. Routledge stressed the importance that EEPGL places on ensuring that Guyanese across the country benefit from the petroleum sector, not just through revenue but by projects such as GGI.
CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limitedโs (CPGL) Regional Manager Anand Gohil and Projects Controls Manager Huang Zhao were also in attendance at the signing.
The Greater Guyana Initiative was launched in February 2021. It is a 10-year, US$100 million programmes under which ExxonMobil and its co-venturers Hess and CPGL will fund capacity-building projects in keeping with the countryโs overall development objectives.
