The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is extremely pleased to be involved in the conceptualisation, compilation, and commissioning of this Compendium of Reviews and Analyses of the Transportation Sector in Guyana. Our mandate to play a catalytic role in the development process impels us to identify and support those initiatives that make for public/private sector participation and which are capable of leading to the goal of sustainable human development. The transport sector has been described as the precursor of, and fundamental to, economic and social development. Further, it is well known that the returns on investment in this sector increase exponentially.
This publication represents the work of a number of agencies over a period of almost four decades. The scope of the studies range from investigations to providing specific recommendations intended to impact the transportation sector. We have alighted on an information source that is valuable and that can form the basis for the acceleration of the development of the transport sector within the policy environment to be established by government.
The completion of this Compendium coincides with a commitment by the Government of Canada to provide assistance through Transport Canada for the development of a national transport policy. It is anticipated that the work of the personnel of Transport Canada will benefit from the studies and the recommendations that have been made in respect of the transport sector. In that regard this project also exemplifies the horizontally integrative nature of the involvement of Donor agencies and the benefits of co-operation and co-ordination.
The UNDP is particularly interested in the transport sector studies and policies since roads, railways, waterways and harbours, and airports affect and often determine the success of the poor in their gallant attempts to achieve a sustainable livelihood. Developments in the transport sector can affect habitats, productive assets, access to modern medical facilities, education and all the other services a community needs.
Our support for this publication evinces a grasp of the changing environment and new paradigms of development. We hope that the Compendium stimulates the interest of engineers and planners; bankers and builders; citizens and policy makers; and that its use ultimately results in positive benefits for the people of Guyana. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to consultant Mr. P.A.D. Allsopp for ably accomplishing this task.
Carlos Felipe Martinez
UN Resident Co-ordinator and
UNDP RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE