–President Ali highlights corridor’s transformation into economic hub

BUILDING on the economic buzz along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has mulled the idea of establishing a traffic terminal catering to truckers and other stakeholders.

While speaking at a recent event, the Head of State noted that the Soesdyke-Linden Highway is no longer a just transportation link, but is now a new corridor of development with a mixture of industrial investments highlighting the country’s diverse economy.

The Soesdyke-Linden Highway acts as the operational hub for sand, loam, and concrete trucks. It serves as the point of origin for transporting these critical materials to various regions across the country.
“Ultimately, for the sand trucks, the loam trucks and concrete trucks, the last activity brings them here as a terminating point on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway; their first activity takes them from here, as the start of the day, with a truckload of sand/loam,” President Ali said.

And with Guyana experiencing a construction boom, there has been an increase of traffic along the route. As such, Dr. Ali stated that a terminal could bring a greater synergy to the operations along the highway.
“With the level of activity that is taking place on this corridor, we can easily integrate, through government investment, infrastructure that will allow that traffic to have a terminal along the highway that allows them to be more in line with the synergies of what they’re doing,” he said.

Making an appeal to investors, the Head of State noted that such an investment could bring greater efficiency to the construction ecosystem of the country.
“Those are the type of things that are also critical; that you may consider the softer side of the investment, but are critical in it bringing efficiency to the entire ecosystem,” he added.

INVESTMENT HUB
President Ali reiterated that the corridor is quickly being transformed into a buzz of economic activity.
“Today, on this Soesdyke-Linden Highway, tens of millions of US dollars; tens of billions of Guyanese dollars are being invested here on this new corridor of development,” he said.
He highlighted key projects, including investments in sustainable agriculture, such as a US$25 million dairy plant expected to come on-stream soon, alongside hydroponic and nursery facilities.
The government also has tourism development plans, including lake-front communities, new zones of urbanisation, and manufacturing and value-added projects.
“In the coming five years, the transformation that is taking place along this corridor is going to be so immense, that a value creation is going to be unbelievable in terms of jobs; in terms of asset value, in terms of infrastructure expansion, in terms of productivity, all of that,” President Ali said.

REGIONAL HUB
The President also highlighted the Highway’s strategic role as a future transportation and service hub between Guyana and Brazil, noting that the establishment of waterfronts along the Demerara River will be key to this development.

This will be complemented by quarries and industrial facilities that are soon to begin operation.
“We can have a comprehensive ecosystem surrounding the building out of our infrastructure, where we are not only building infrastructure, but we are building infrastructure where almost all of the input will come from, right here in Guyana,” President Ali said, adding:

“The current infrastructure build-out is only to handle the immediate needs. The economy of this country will be built out on such a massive scale that infrastructure, connectivity, the markets and people will be beyond anything we can imagine.”

Major projects contributing to this vision includes the Linden to Lethem Road, the new Sandhill Road, which will connect the mining communities in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) to urban centres, the development of a new shore-base facility, and the new Corentyne River Bridge connecting Guyana, Suriname and Brazil to facilitate cross-border trade, and other projects aimed at transforming the country’s landscape.

“We want also investors who are coming in to look at the capacity we’ve been able to build up here in Guyana.” President Ali said, adding that the overarching goal is to create a self-sustaining ecosystem that fosters national development and regional prosperity.

“It’s about creating new opportunities, and it’s about opening up the possibilities here for the rest of your countrymen and women and investors globally,” he concluded.