Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo remains hopeful that the final draft of Guyana’s oil spill legislation will be tabled in the National Assembly before the end of the year.

Jagdeo expressed optimism, despite telling reporters, at his weekly press conference, that the Attorney General’s Chambers has been “very delinquent” in completing the final draft of the legislation. “I’ve been pressing them… they’ve been very delinquent at this but I’ve been pressing them to get this done, because we made certain commitments that we want this tabled before the end of the year,” Jagdeo said. While providing updates on the oil and gas sector and plans for the new year, Jagdeo explained that the AG’s office has had some challenges. “So first of all, I’m expecting the AG’s department has had some issues. They’re overloaded with getting the Oil Spill Legislation… the draft completed so I can table it in the National Assembly,” he said, noting that if the legislation is not passed before the end of this year, then it will definitely be passed early next year. “Under the Petroleum Activities Act there are several regulations that are being drafted, have to be approved and those two hopefully will be approved by the National Assembly,” he told reporters.

On December 2, this publication reported that Jagdeo told reporters that he is hopeful his government’s oil spill legislation will be tabled in Parliament by the end of the year. Asked by Kaieteur News to give an update on the bill, which was scheduled to be tabled before the August recess but was not, Jagdeo said, “We are going through this… the technical agencies have given their views, we have sent it up back to the consultants.” He explained that he is awaiting the final draft of the bill, which will have the stakeholders’ views included “and then we will have a discussion at the level of the cabinet and, hopefully, we will get it to the parliament before the end of the year. It is still my hope to table it before the end of the year.”

The Oil Spill Act is aimed at ensuring that the country is protected during the transportation of crude oil. Jagdeo in the past had said that the legislation, once in place, will cover Guyana from “all sorts of liabilities”. (Kaieteur News)

Photo: Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. (Kaieteur News)