THE Government of Guyana has paid more than $40M to the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) to acquire that company’s shares in the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated (BBCI).Finance Minister Winston Jordan told reporters at a press conference on Monday that Government “bought the DDL shares for forty-something millions dollars…less than they were asking for”. DDL had been asking for $45M, but through negotiations, the two parties settled on a price below that.

Through the purchase of DDL’s shares, Government is now the largest shareholder of the BBCI, given that the National Insurance Scheme has purchased the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited’s (NICIL) shares.

The minister did not state specifically how much money the Government has paid over to DDL for its shares in the BBCI, but noted that it is open to assessing offers put forward by other shareholders.

“We would, if they offer at the right price… Mr. Bobby Ramroop had offered his, but not at the right price, so we didn’t take up his offer…. If he offers at the right price, we would take it up,” Minister Jordan has said.

He also said Government is not currently negotiating with any of the other shareholders.

“We are not in any kind of negotiations… We are not going after anybody’s shares, because that means we would have to make an offer. If they so decide, they can make an offer to us; we would consider it, as we did in DDL’s case. We didn’t offer to buy DDL’s shares, they came to us, and Cabinet looked at it and we began negotiations with them. We settled on a price which was less than they were asking for, and it was a long, uphill task to get the shares transferred,” he remarked.

Asked whether Government would fulfill a promise to pay rates of return to some of the shareholders, the Finance Minister said, “That cannot be paid”. He explained that the return was premised on the fare to cross the bridge. “…the price hasn’t changed for many years; all that has happened is that we are paying the subsidy, but the price hasn’t changed. In the absence of that and the absence of not getting the traffic flows and so on, there is no way that can be paid,” Jordan said.

In July 2015, Government reduced the BBCI toll, stating that it had made a promise to the people of Berbice to do so while it was in Opposition, and moreso while on the campaign trail.
The lowering of the bridge tolls is among measures employed by the Government to ease the financial burden on those who traverse the bridge.