Guyana could become major transport hub
Guyana’s geographical location on the edge of South America has made the country the shortest and most economical route for exports from Brazil through the Panama Canal
Guyana’s geographical location on the edge of South America has made the country the shortest and most economical route for exports from Brazil through the Panama Canal

–country identified as shortest, most economical route for exports from Brazil through Panama Canal

GUYANA’S geographical location on the edge of South America has made the country the shortest and most economical route for exports from Brazil through the Panama Canal, according to the Government of the Brazilian State of Roraima.

A video demonstration released recently by the State of Roraima shows that shipping through Guyana could significantly decrease the existing transport cost.

Guyana is linked directly to Brazil through Lethem, which lies just on the edge of the border between the two countries. The two nations established diplomatic relations on August 26, 1968, and have since cooperated in the areas of trade, health, agriculture, transport and security matters.

Cooperation could be enhanced even further with there now being a clear opportunity for Guyana to become a transport-led economical route to the Atlantic Ocean for northern Brazil’s import and export of commodities.

“This further enhances our view that Guyana can become a major transport hub and the gateway between South America and the rest of the world,” President, Dr Irfaan Ali said in a post on his official Facebook page.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Dr Peter Ramsaroop, in sharing his views on the potential that exists as a result of Guyana’s strategic position, said: “It will explode investments in many sectors.”

This is so because, in his view, a journey that would take days using the Amazon River would be reduced to a matter of hours via road transportation.

“This in turn opens up many new industries in a transport-led economy for northern Brazil… new lands would open up due to hundreds of miles of new roads and there would even be support to Suriname and French Guiana,” Dr Ramsaroop said.

Already, there are great opportunities in the pipeline for Guyanese and Brazilians, as authorities move closer to finalising further arrangements for the paving of the road from Linden to Lethem, which serves as a conduit for travel between the two South American nations.

“Linden-Lethem corridor will be a game-changer for Guyana and Brazil,” Director of the Department of International Cooperation at Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Ambassador Forbes July had said during his address at the recent joint launch of World Vaccination Week in Bonfim.

As it is now, the journey from Lethem to Georgetown takes as many as 13 hours, depending on the state of the road. The unpaved 450-kilometre road from Linden to Lethem is often impassable in the rainy season, due to flooding along low-lying sections of the trail.

Although air travel to Lethem is also possible, anecdotal information shows that the cost factor often discourages the average Guyanese from choosing this mode of transportation.

GAME-CHANGER
Once paved, the road which was referred to as a game-changer by Ambassador July, will eradicate many bottlenecks to travel by reducing ground transportation time to approximately five hours.

This piece of infrastructure will not just improve transportation, but it will also augment trade and tourism and increase land value, among other things.

President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon, in describing the massive project which will be done in phases, said: “Almost one half of Guyana’s potential will be linked one way or the other to just opening that corridor… we are using Linden to Lethem, but I am referring here from the deep-sea port in Georgetown all the way to connectivity to Brazil.”

The CDB is no stranger to this initiative, since it has provided direct funding of US$112 million for the upgrading of 121 kilometres of road from Linden to Mabura Hill. The project is a joint undertaking of Guyana, the United Kingdom and the CDB.

The Ministry of Public Works in May signed a contract worth US$190 million with Construtora Queiroz Galvao S.A. from Brazil for the Linden to Mabura Hill upgrade project.

At the signing and sod-turning ceremony held at Wisroc Junction, Linden, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar, had said the first phase of this project stretches some 121 kilometres and will see a two-lane highway.

He said that the width of each lane is expected to be some 3.6 metres, giving a total of around 7.2 metres of driving surface with hard shoulders, shared cyclists and pedestrian lanes, a utility corridor and approximately 10 bus stops placed along the stretch.

To make transportation even easier, the government has approached the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for US$120 million to rehabilitate the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Those transformational projects will create the right conditions to support planned expansions in the area of agriculture. It was reported recently that Guyana and Brazil will be looking to enhance and diversify trade in this area.

The possibilities for expansion in the area of agricultural trade were explored when President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro visited Guyana at the invitation of President Dr Irfaan Ali.

According to a joint statement following engagements between the two Presidents, the Heads of State agreed on the importance of expanding and diversifying agricultural trade between the two countries.

Agriculture has been a critical area of cooperation between the two South American nations since they established diplomatic relations on August 26, 1968.

This relationship was enhanced on June 27, 2001, when an Economic Complementation Agreement (Partial Scope Agreement) was signed between Brazil and Guyana. The agreement, which was since amended, aims to foster bilateral trade flows by the exchange of tariff preferences between the parties, cooperation on trade matters and increased participation of the private sector.

Presidents Ali and Bolsonaro have since committed to broadening the scope and expanding the provisions of the Partial Scope Agreement.

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