Gov’t clamping down on new ways of violating Local Content Act

Last Updated on Friday, 25 October 2024, 18:50 by Writer

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat addressing the Private Sector Commission’s 2nd Local Content Forum at the Marriott Hotel.

Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat on Friday said entrepreneurs have found new ways to ‘smart’ the Local Content Act by having companies controlled on paper by Guyanese but the Local Content Secretariat has been uncovering those new schemes.

He credited the Head of the Local Content Secretariat, Dr Martin Pertab and his team with “doing a wonderful job” in identifying those issues and “try to nip them in the bud.” He was addressing the Private Sector Commission’s Local Content Forum.

While the Guyana government has managed to curb ‘fronting’ by Guyanese to make companies eligible for Local Content certification, he said there were new instances of people manipulating the system. “There are different levels now of naturalisation if people who have been in Guyana and making them partners, establishment of shell companies with no assets or no liquidity so there are many other forms of this issue evolving,” he said.

Among the conditions for companies to receive Local Content certification is that they must have at least 51 percent Guyanese ownership. In that regard, he said the Attorney General’s Chambers was examining the Local Content Act to “put conditions” without contradicting Guyana’s constitution.

Mr Bharrat said there were a few unnamed contractors that were not fully compliant with the Local Content Act. “We will not tolerate contractors not being compliant with the law,” he said, adding that he was unsure whether he would be signing waivers for non-compliant contractors.