A review of the Payara Development Project that is being undertaken by the new administration in Guyana is expected to be completed before the end of the month after which a decision on its approval is expected to be made. After taking up office just over a week ago, the Government had taken a decision to hire a consultant to review the development plan.
“The brief is that they will complete that review sometime by the twenty-fourth of this month and we have made it clear that consistent with what we wanted, with what we said before, that we want to move the production along…but we also want to make sure that the country benefits from this,” Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, told reporters at a press conference on Friday.
Mr. Jagdeo said the decision to review the work that was done by the previous administration on the Payara project was made in part due to “how much was written about the procurement process through which the Government embarked upon to hire the consultants, not just this consultant but consultants that were advising them…”
As such, he said, “…the president decided…that we should have a review of the work done by the consultant and that technical review will guide the decision of the government.”
The Vice President said the government has made it clear that its intent is not to further delay the project “but all the I’s must be dotted and the T’s crossed and we want to make sure on that issue there is a proper technical evaluation.”
Minister of natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, said on Thursday finding a balance between speedy approval and a thorough review of the project is key since the new administration is cognizant of the time constraints facing the investors and the need for revenue to come to the country.
