THE submission of a paper to government entitled ‘Concept paper for the improvement of the Georgetown Harbour through public/private sector partnership’ has seen results as an allocation for Port Georgetown has been made in the 2014 Budget. The document had been submitted by a working group comprising 10 persons, five each from government and the Shipping Association of Guyana (SAG).Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh stated in his presentation of the Budget on Monday that government has recognised the urgent need for capital dredging of the mouth of the Demerara River. He explained that this has been the subject of considerable attention from government, and from the private sector, affected by its implications for shipping access to the river channel.
The depth of the channel basin has been reduced to an unsatisfactory level which has resulted in limitations in the draft of vessels able to transit the route. The consequence has been reductions of the volume of cargo per vessel being moved and increased freight costs.
As such, government will establish a special purpose entity to address this matter this year, and will work closely with the private sector to attract the necessary financing for this endeavour to commence and be successfully executed. “To support the preparatory work, Budget 2014 makes an allocation of $100M to advance the required technical and other assessments,” Minister Singh stated.
In January, SAG Chairman Desmond Sears had stated that the organisation’s vision was one of optimising Guyana’s maritime transportation potential through the provision of effective and efficient services at ports and harbours. This, he observed, would contribute to the improvement of Guyana’s international trade competitiveness, by ensuring maximum utilisation of the country’s water terminals.
The concept paper submitted to government was drawn up by government’s representatives including three from the Maritime Administration (MARAD), one from the Ministry of Trade and one from the Ministry of Finance. They identified the shallow depth of the Demerara channel as having a negative impact on maritime commerce in Guyana, to the extent that the volume of cargo being moved per vessel call has been declining significantly.

(GINA)