By Kurt Campbell
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Former Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Dookhoo has called on the Guyana Government to resists calls for it to take over the Berbice River Bridge – a public/private partnership project.
“The Private Sector will not support any takeover attempts by the government of any private entity,” Dookhoo declared at the opening of Guyexpo2013 on Thursday, October 3.
The Former PSC Chairman said the private sector was stifled in the past by socialistic national polices. He also recalled how most of the private sector commercial entities were nationalized causing private capital to decrease in a way that led to the eventual collapse of Guyana’s economy.
“It has taken years of dedication by our business leaders to rebuild a private sector led economy and rebuild out store of private capital” he said, adding that “we must resist any attempts to return the private sector to the centralized economy of the past.”
Dookhoo said the model of the past has proven to be a failure and the recent calls for the state to take over the Berbice River Bridge are alarming. “Nationalization did not and will not work.”
He believes that the private sector is the future of Guyana and recommends that the country continue to work towards diversifying the economy and its reliance on traditional exports.
“There is no doubt that confidence in our economy abounds and the investment can attest to this” Dookhoo stated. The bridge which is tolled was opened on December 23, 2008.
