– as part of overall ECD, countrywide job creation
Plans are afoot to create an industrial zone in La Bonne Intention (LBI) on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), which will contribute towards the Government’s overall push to create 50,000 jobs during its first term in office.
This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali, during the recent commissioning of a $141 million water well in Lusignan. According to the President, it is important that people understand the importance of the ECD to the overall job creation plan.
“I want you to understand where this East Coast is going. To understand the development paradigm that will take place, the shift. Because the East Coast will become a major centre of economic growth and expansion.”
“We are looking at the development of a high volume, high capacity, high intensity, industrial site in Enmore, that will create thousands of jobs. To back that up, we’re investing in a commercial zone, a heavy commercial zone in LBI,” the President said.
According to President Ali, Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) must keep pace with this expansion. He also noted that all of this industrial development on the ECD will be linked with the overall national development.
“All of those will be linked to the massive expansion of housing, agro-processing, road linkages, that will see new highways all across the East Coast corridor, linking into the East Bank,” President Ali said.
Back in February, it was announced that over 500 job opportunities would be created over the next five years with the coming on stream of a US$35 million investment in a fabrication facility at Enmore, ECD.
The entity behind this development is a majority Guyanese-owned joint venture company named Guysons K+B (GKB) Industries Inc, which has acquired in Enmore 55 acres of land from the Guyana Government to establish a fabrication facility that would be offering services to the oil and gas industry.
The services to be offered would include tubular goods, premium threading and accessory services, as well as turnkey manufacturing solutions. While the complete investment is US$35 million and the intention is to employ 500 Guyanese, an initial sum of US$7 million would be injected into this initiative in 2022, and 150 recruitments would take place in this year alone.
Vice President of Sales at K+B Industries – the US partner of the joint venture company – Nick Becnel had said during the February International Energy Conference that Guysons K+B Industries has already started training Guyanese to take up employment at the facility.
“To be successful, we plan to invest in the community and, more specially, in the Guyana people. Despite the challenge of the ongoing COVID pandemic, K+B and Guysons have been conducting both virtual and in-country training for the local Guyanese workers,” he had stated.
According to Becnel, the company’s next phase of training includes sending the local GKB team members to the United States for more in-depth training at K+B’s world-class facilities. This, he noted, would benefit both of the joint venture partners as they learn from each other.
Guysons Engineering Limited was established in 1992 and has developed into an industry-leading engineering and machining shop. The Guysons Group of Companies is now geared to support Guyana’s growing oil & gas industry with the establishment of Guysons Oil & Gas in 2018, which is directly contracted to ExxonMobil.
US-based K&B Machine Works opened as a full-service machine shop to serve the oil & gas industry. Four decades of intense customer focus and dedication to hiring like-minded leaders has resulted in K&B Industries being recognised worldwide today.
