–IDB pegs container traffic benefits to Guyana at 80%

GOVERNMENT has signalled its intention to make the Linden-Lethem super-highway its “main priority” in the coming year.
And according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan, monies have been budgeted in the 2019 National Budget for the construction of six kilometers of paved roads between Wisroc at Linden and Mile Zero along the way to Mabura.

Minister Jordan told the National Assembly during his budgetary presentation on Monday that with the support of key development partners, the government will commence the feasibility study for the next 125 kilometers of road, which is from Linden to Mabura and the bridge across the Kurupukari River. That study is billed to commence sometime in the new year.

Noting that a total sum of $38.5B has been set aside in the budget for infrastructure in 2019, Minister Jordan said that the government is already in discussion with the Brazilian government on the development of the Mabura to Lethem leg of the road which will take it all the way to Region Nine (Upper Takutu- Upper Essequibo).

EASE OF ACCESS
“The entire road,” he told the House, “will create ease of access to Brazil, and improve local community welfare through increased traffic, commercial trade, and economic advancement within the surrounding communities, including the new township of Lethem, which is earmarked for significant expansion with the proposed upgrade of the Lethem Aerodrome to a regional airport.”

He said that when completed, the proposed super-highway from Linden to Lethem will “open the vast Rupununi and intermediate savannahs of Guyana; stimulate business activities; create eco-tourism opportunities for our hinterland communities contiguous to the corridor; facilitate easy road access for our foresters and miners; and open a new and dynamic trade and commercial link with northern Brazil.”

He also informed the National Assembly that Guyana stands to benefit significantly from the project in the long-term. He said that preliminary studies financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have indicated that approximately 80 per cent of the container traffic to and from northern Brazil will be re-routed from the Manaus-Amazon River to Port Georgetown, with connections to North America, Europe and further afield.
Late in December 2017, this newspaper reported that Guyana and Brazil will be working closely with China to access a US$50B China Select Fund to help construct the road.

BETTER PROSPECTS
Following the Guyana Government’s signing of the two agreements with Brazil, one of which deals with the road link, the Ministry of the Presidency had quoted President David Granger as saying that for decades, both sides had envisaged a route through Guyana, which will provide better development prospects for investors to come from the Caribbean into Brazil and from Brazil into the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, under the 2019 Budget, the sum of $134M has been set aside for the execution of studies and designs for the rehabilitation of the 72km Soesdyke-Linden Highway, which, according to Minister Jordan, is a critical road link that has been neglected for over two decades.

As such, he sees its rehabilitation as warranted, as it “re-emphasises the importance of Linden as the central hub to connect the hinterland regions,” and provides for more intensive development of the land on both sides of the Highway for several purposes, including housing, commercial and industrial development.
The Soesdyke-Linden Highway was built between 1966 and 1968, and officially commissioned in 1969.

It was rehabilitated between 1997-1999 by the Trinidadian firm, Seereeram Brothers Ltd, through funding from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).