If projects significantly impeded by labour shortages, Gov’t will greenlight foreign workers – Jagdeo

Though keen on ensuring that all Guyanese can be gainfully employed, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo says the government will allow companies to hire workers if they can demonstrate that their projects are being substantially impacted by labour shortages and show what their specific needs are.

Additionally, he said the government itself could hire skilled foreign workers if there are sustained difficulties finding highly skilled workers for key technical positions.

“We are trying to use as many locals as possible but if there is an absence of local people and we don’t have the requisite skills, then we don’t have an option but to go abroad,” Dr. Jagdeo said on Thursday during a press conference.

Before work permits for foreign workers are granted though, he said the companies or government bodies must demonstrate how their projects would be impeded due to existing shortages. And, he explained too, they must demonstrate the specific labour needs.

“There are a large number of people trying to bring in labour, being very cautious giving large scale permits.

“They have to demonstrate a need and have to show that the project would be affected,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

He clarified that the government will not grant “blanket” permits.

Already, work permits have been granted for at least one contractor, the India-based Ashoka Buildcon that is constructing the Ogle to Eccles roadway, to import workers. Jagdeo said that is a two-year project and the contractors contended that their  shortage of drivers would delay the project.

Drivers and labourers, he said, are among the workers that are in high demand in Region Four.

But in other regions, those labour shortages do not exist. So Jagdeo says the government is trying to get those people employed first and drive economic activity into those regions.

He also noted that the government is focused on training more people and getting more women integrated into the local workforce. These initiatives, he said, should help increase the local labour pool.

The Vice President also responded directly to concerns raised about the operations of the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Petroleum Revenue Department.

During a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Monday, the tax regulator’s Commissioner General Godfrey Statia said the body has less than half of the staff it needs in the Petroleum Revenue Department that deals with monitoring, auditing and otherwise regulating companies operating in Guyana’s nascent oil and gas sector.

Jagdeo said once the GRA demonstrates a specific need for skilled personnel that it cannot otherwise fill with locals, then skilled foreign workers would have to be tapped.