Last Updated on Thursday, 6 August 2026, 21:48 by Writer
The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) and the opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) are concerned that the state-owned Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) is about to compete with the private sector in supplying bottled water, but President Irfaan Ali on Thursday sought to justify his government’s decision.
“Several GMSA members have invested capital, built distribution networks, and created jobs in this space over many years. Any initiative by the state should be structured to strengthen, not to compete with or undermine, that existing private investment,” the GMSA said in a statement this week.
The association noted that the Guyana government has allocated GY$496.3 million for the establishment of a state-owned water bottling facility under the GWI.
Initially, the GMSA said it had backed the government’s idea of Guyana increasing its bottled water output rather than importing because it was regarded as a strategic opportunity to strengthen local manufacturing, create jobs, and enhance Guyana’s economic resilience.
However, the president rejected the GMSA’s assertions, saying that the GWI is responsible for providing safe and affordable drinking water for Guyanese.
“GWI is not in competition with anyone,” he said.
He said the local manufacturers should instead ask themselves why foreign bottled water was displacing them.
“Some products that are social in nature and when you look at the price of water across the region, internationally and here, we have a duty and responsibility to the people,” he said.
The GMSA suggested that President Ali’s own February announcement on local bottled water production explicitly calling for “close collaboration between the government and private sector,” including shared production infrastructure such as bottle manufacturing, to bring down costs across the industry runs counter to moves to establish a state-run operation that would compete directly with private producers.
Meanwhile, the opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) believed that the GWI’s sole focus should be tackling unreliable water supplies, poor water quality, low water pressure, and in some cases, no access to a proper water distribution system at all.
“The Government’s first obligation is not to compete in the bottled water market. Its first obligation is to ensure that every household has access to potable water for domestic use. Before investing hundreds of millions of dollars in bottling water for sale, GWI should be investing in additional water treatment plants, expanding transmission and distribution pipelines, replacing aging infrastructure, reducing water losses, and extending services to communities that remain underserved,” APNU parliamentarian Ganesh Mahipaul said in a statement.
While APNU did not discard the idea of a state-owned water bottling plant in principle as governments can pursue commercial ventures where there is a clear public interest and a demonstrable benefit to citizens, the parliamentary party expressed concern that the GWI’s plans raise legitimate concerns about the role of the state in the marketplace.
The APNU said that rather than focusing on its core mandate of providing a reliable public utility, GWI appears to be venturing into a commercial enterprise that will inevitably compete with existing local bottled-water producers, many of whom are private Guyanese businesses that have invested significant capital, created employment and contributed to the economy.
“Government should be creating an environment that supports private enterprise, not using taxpayers’ money to establish a State competitor while its primary public service obligations remain unmet,” he said.
Mr Mahipaul urged the government to fully disclose the details of the GWI’s water bottling project, location of the plant, projected production capacity, total capital and operating costs, projected selling price of the bottled water, the intended distribution network, the expected return on investment, and whether independent market studies were conducted to justify the expenditure.
He said the public also deserves to know how this project aligns with the GWI’s statutory responsibility to provide safe and reliable water services throughout Guyana.
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