Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has called out the main Opposition party – People National Congress Reform (PNCR) – over what he describes as a duplicitous infrastructure plan that targets their political strongholds.
Last week, the PNCR and its coalition partner, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), unveiled the opposition’s ‘Framework for Infrastructure Development’ which will focus on building out inter-town and coast-to-hinterland highways.
This includes paving roads to connect key townships across the country such as New Amsterdam and Linden, which the opposition said will address the absence of a direct road link between the two major towns.
Currently, persons wanting to travel between New Amsterdam and Linden via road have to go through Georgetown. The other option is to travel by boat up the Berbice River.
But during a press conference on Thursday, VP Jagdeo highlighted the duplicity of the opposition’s infrastructure plan that targets their strongholds.
“[They took] out a little piece that “we’re connecting New Amsterdam to Linden”. …It’s the dog whistle again. New Amsterdam is [their] stronghold and Linden so that’s what their gonna do. They’re gonna connect [those towns],” the Vice President stated.
He added, “Now, you may have one thousand people using that [Linden to New Amsterdam] road but they’re opposed to building a road going to Diamond [from Mocha Arcadia on the East Bank of Demerara] … How many people living from Diamond coming into the city and from the East Babk [corridor] including in Mocha. And they’re opposed to us building the road from Mahaica coming to Georgetown, or the Schoonord road from Crane bypassing the traffic jam at Vreed-en-Hoop. They’re opposed to all of that [saying we’re spending] too much money on infrastructure but they will build a road from Linden to New Amsterdam. How many people will use that road on a daily basis?”
The PNC-led parliamentary opposition has been heavily critical of the current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government for many of the major infrastructure projects it has been implementing and plans to undertake, questioning the viability and calling for feasibility studies to be done.
Jagdeo turned the tables on the Opposition, stating “I don’t know if they know [the New Amsterdam to Linden Road]; how much it costs – nothing. Where is the feasibility study now for these roads?”
As part of its infrastructure development plan, the PNC/APNU announced two aspects to transform the country’s road network – an Inter-town Connection Road Network and a Coast to Hinterland Road Network.
In addition to the Linden to New Amsterdam Road, the inter-town road network will also see the construction of paved roads linking Linden and Lethem, Linden and Mahdia, and Mahdia and Bartica.
For the Coast to Hinterland network, the opposition said they will focus on replanning, upgrading, or creating routes that connect, for example, Bartica to the Upper Mazaruni, and the Essequibo Coast to the middle Cuyuni and the North-West District (NWD). These include bridging the Essequibo River at several points.
“A lot of these, already, we are doing the …connecting Linden to New Amsterdam – that’s part of the deepwater project we’re speaking about and the connection to Brazil through multiple links like through roads, rails, electricity grid – all of that. It’s part of a bigger vision to make Guyana a major entry point into northern Brazil and to provide access out of northern Brazil into the Atlantic,” the Vice President noted.
According to Jagdeo, Government has already been engaging Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on these initiatives. Jagdeo noted that these were conceptualised under his presidency which ended in 2011.
Currently, the PPP/C Government is constructing a four-lane highway from Linden to Lethem as part of efforts to build a local transportation network that will lead to Brazil and eventually make Guyana the connectivity hub for the region.
Works are now ongoing on the Linden to Mabura Hill section of the road as Guyana engages Brazil on a financing model for the Mabura Hill to Lethem phase.
The US$190 million contract for the 121-kilometre asphaltic road from Linden to Mabura Hill was signed in May 2022 and is scheduled to be completed by July 2025.
The project is being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) via a US$112 million loan, a grant to the tune of £50 million (US$66 million) from the United Kingdom (UK) under the Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (CIPF), and an input of US$12 million from the Guyana Government.
Another major infrastructure that is key to this road network to Brazil is the Corentyne River Bridge that Guyana is pursuing in partnership with Suriname.
With a preferred contractor already identified by both Guyana and Suriname and preparatory works already started, the two South American nations are now awaiting financing. They have approached the Chinese Government to fund the project.
The bridge will be a lower-level structure approximately one kilometre long from Moleson Creek in Guyana to Long Island in the Corentyne River, with a 2200-metre (2.2km) road across Long Island and a higher-level bridge spanning 2100 metres (2.1km) thereafter to South Drain in Suriname.
Upon completion, the bridge would not only link the two neighbouring countries, but would also open up access to greater economic opportunities beyond them, through the road network being developed into Brazil, and into French Guiana, and eventually further into South America.
