By Kurt Campbell
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ronald Webster has expressed profound disappointment with the pull out of Muri Brazil Ventures Inc from further exploratory activities in Guyana.
Muri Brazil Ventures Inc was authorized to conduct Permission for Geographical and Geophysical Survey (PGGS) in South East of Guyana (New River).
During an interview with iNews, Webster explained that no company in the future would want to make any investment in Guyana if they are unsure of a guarantee in the ‘long run’.
“Guyana has lost a huge investment, and no other person would want to invest if they know they are likely to be faced with resistance… investments of these kinds need to be supported by everyone,” he told iNews.
The Company in announcing its pullout on January 4 had said that although the process was legal and transparent, this decision is due to the misinformation, prejudice and hostility to this proposed survey by persons and agencies which are fostering an adverse investment climate in Guyana.
Meanwhile, Opposition Member of Parliament Joseph Harmon, who was one of the persons from the opposition benches who became very critical of the permission, credited the Media, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and the Political Opposition for causing Muri Brazil to scrap the deal.
The Opposition also received credit in a Surinamese newspaper for influencing the pullout.
In this regard, the PSC Chairman said that the opposition must change its attitude towards investment.
“The current attitude is not going to help, private sector investment only goes where it is safe, people don’t throw away money, they may take risk but people don’t throw away money,” Webster added.
He said the PSC has always played an active role in encouraging both local and foreign investment and will continue to do same. He posited that the loss of Muri Brazil is a lost to fast-tracked development.
Harmon on the other hand maintains that the pull out is no loss to Guyana, despite opposing views from his counterparts in the government.
“I don’t know they were an investor, I know the company was granted permission under suspicious circumstances and by their own admission spent no more than US$100,000… we don’t know in fact what is the capacity of the company to do the things that they were supposed to do under the PGGS.”
