— Gov’t actively pursuing DDL’s $45M shares in Berbice Bridge

GOVERNMENT, through the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), is still in active engagement with shareholders of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. to acquire the $45M in shares being held by the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL).This was confirmed on Tuesday by the head of NICIL, Horace James, who earlier this year assumed responsibility for managing NICIL’s affairs.

It was announced by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo last year that Government was considering an offer by Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) to buy its shares in the Berbice Bridge Company for $45M.
James noted that the process of acquiring DDL’s shares is being followed in accordance with prescriptive requirements. He explained that if a shareholder intends to sell his shares, consent must be granted from the remaining shareholders for those shares to be sold. According to him, that is the phase at which the process is currently.

“Consent needs to be given by the remaining shareholders if shares are to be sold, and that is where we are presently. So it has not been called off…NICIL buying these shares is still on the table; but we have to go through this process first,” the head of NICIL said.

Political and economic commentator Ramon Gaskin had, earlier this year, called on Government to take full ownership of the Berbice Bridge Company, so that the economic burden on Guyanese living in that area could be eased.
However, it was noted last year by Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson that Government does not intend to buy out the Berbice Bridge Company, as it is not economically feasible.

When asked about a possible Government takeover, Patterson had said, “No, that is not a consideration of the Government. We have a restrictive financial budget, right? And we have a lot of things to do.”

The bridge company was, at that time, also stalling moves to reduce the toll to cross the bridge, even as pressure was mounting. In response to the sluggish approach employed by the company, Government had introduced river taxis which reduced dependency on the bridge as the sole means of transportation.

The delay in implementing reduced tolls was also being experienced despite the Government’s announcement of a subsidy in the national 2015 budget earlier that year. The subsidy sought to ensure that the company lost no revenue as a result of the reduction in tolls.

Subsequently, directors of the US$40M bridge agreed to the Government’s proposal, and an agreement worth $31M in subsidy was inked between the Government and the Bridge Company to facilitate the reduction of tolls.

This took effect from January 1 of this year.