LINKING the hinterland and coastland by river, road and air is a priority for the country’s development, says Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson.Underscoring the intention of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to aggressively restructure previous plans to pave the road from Linden to Lethem, Minister Patterson said this corridor serves a multitude of purposes, especially transporting consumer goods and foreign adventure seekers on safaris, hunting trips, sightseeing and shopping in Lethem or across the Takutu Bridge in Bon Fim, Sao Paolo, Manaus, Roraima, Amazonia and other western states of Brazil.

This programme, he said, is a direct spin-off of a road transportation policy which is being refined. In the meantime, the ‘low hanging fruit’, the projects that are immediately achievable have already been set in motion while a new coordinating unit, the transportation authority, is set up. As a matter of course, the issue of weight, time and speed limits on specified roads and highways for heavy duty vehicles have been included.

Earlier in the year, several areas of cooperation were discussed when Brazilian Ambassador Lineu Pupo de Paula paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
The two sought to renew and strengthen the relationship between their two neighbouring countries and discussed several areas of possible collaboration, a government statement said.
PAVING LINDEN TO LETHEM ROAD
According to Ambassador de Paula, Brazil is interested in assisting the Government of Guyana to pave the road from Linden to Lethem. In addition, the envoy pointed out that Brazil may look at setting up a hydro project in Guyana. He said “we can talk about energy, the north of Brazil needs energy, and we can have maybe a project here, in the Mazaruni River, a hydro (project) here.” Another area that Brazil can assist Guyana in is education, through the implementation and teaching of Portuguese in schools.
May last, sections of the Linden to Lethem road were washed away by heavy rainfall and the lone north-south corridor to the Rupununi became impassable.
In the past, road maintenance experts had said that it is almost fruitless to attempt to repair interior roads during very heavy rainfall. The road is the only communication link for the transportation of numerous passengers; large quantities of food, fuel and other supplies from the coastland to the Rupununi.