President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday announced the establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone  and a medium to large scale industrial estate to support development in Berbice that will benefit both Regions Five and Six.

Speaking during the inaugural Berbice Development Summit Agenda, President Ali told the room full of investors, that the Government is setting the stage for massive investments in the regions by investing heavily in infrastructure.

The President announced plans for a new Municipal Airport at Rose Hall, a new Berbice River Bridge, and two large canals like the one at Hope on the East Coast of Demerara.

The President said investments made in Berbice will also open up opportunities for local businesses in Northern Brazil due to the connectivity. He urged local businesses to form themselves into partnerships to invest in the new opportunities.

“First, we want this room to be connected, the local private sector and international partners. Secondly, we want this enter development to have minimal debt financing for the country, that is the country taking loans for invest in these opportunities, so what that means is minimum debt financing but maximum foreign direct investment, maximum private sector participation there,” the President said.

The President said he is hoping that by building out infrastructure, investments opportunities can be realized in the next five years, although he admitted that such expansion can take up to 15 years to be realized.

“There was a time when we were chasing the world to find takers for these massive transformational projects, but now we have options before us, we have opportunities before and we want to ensure that we leverage those options and opportunities in a way that brings the greatest value and greatest benefit to the people of our country,” the President noted.

The President said developing Berbice will open up opportunities for the entire country, by expanding the economic base, which he said will drive innovation and support local business development.

He described the opportunities as a low hanging fruit and assured investors that government will provide the enabling environment for their investments.

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