Delayed…

…Demerara crossing

During the 1992 elections, the PNC pulled out all the stops. At a Stabroek Market Square meeting, Deputy Mayor Robert Williams offered his audience a clinching argument in his peroration: “And look how we gave you the Demerara Harbour Bridge, comrades. Now you can sport at Tony’s on West Bank and return home the same night!!” He got the loudest round of applause for that one.

Since then, the regular traffic on the Bridge has increased exponentially – even as the structure is decades past its expiry date. The back-ups during the rush hour – morning and night – are now of mythic proportions. And us being Guyanese, the scrapes and scratches and fender benders have created a cottage industry of its own. Not to mention adding billions to healthcare costs to deal with the increased high blood pressures induced.

Well, at long last the PNC-led coalition government is picking up on the PPP administration’s proposal to build a fixed structure bridge to replace the old floating one; long giving us the dubious distinction of possessing “the longest floating bridge in the world.” Maybe its poetic justice. The PNC’s getting the opportunity to make amends for all the time portions of the bridge – being pontoons – floated down river and giving the occupants of several cars and minibuses a fair imitation of Huck Finn rafting down the Mississippi River!

The PPP had conducted a pre-feasibility study back in 2013 and concluded that the best site for the new bridge was from Versailles on the WBD to Houston in Georgetown. The most important innovation would be a clover leaf entrance and exit ramps on both approaches that would eliminate the need for vehicles slowing down at those points. It’s this slowing down that cascades backwards and holds up traffic for the length of the backup.

The biggest hurdle will be the cost, since fixed span concrete bridges don’t come cheap. It’ll definitely replace the Skeldon Modernisation Plan as the “largest investment in Guyana”. Where will the Government get the approx US$250 million financing? After their browbeating of the Public Private Partnership BBCI on tolls reduction, they can forget about THAT model!!

With the economy showing no sign of heading north anytime soon, it’s doubtful the government may want to saddle itself with that big a bump in its debt portfolio. But the last time then British PM David Cameron visited the Caribbean in 2015, he did promise £300 million or US$375 million in GRANTS to the Caribbean for infrastructural development.

Maybe they won’t fund the whole bridge… but they can certainly take care of a goodly portion!!

Let’s get that study out – and request in, chop! chop!

…”do fuh do” on Edghill

Just over a year ago, Juan Edghill, the PPP Junior Shadow Minister of Finance, made some (allegedly inflated) statements on the Ministerial Salary increases the PNC-led coalition Government had awarded itself. The comments were questioned by the Finance Minister and last May a Motion was moved in Parliament by Government MP Charrandas Persaud to haul Edghill before the Privileges Committee.

Now six months later, Speaker Scotland suddenly remembered to give effect to the Privileges motion and summon Edghill before the committee he heads. Is this just coincidence, the PPP wonders, that it was Edghill who’d moved the motion on MP Norton that resulted in the latter being sent to the same committee? Or caused a major embarrassment to the Government by moving a motion (which the Government used its 1-seat majority to defeat) on the D’Urban Park scandal? But the Govt is ill advised. Any highlighting of the 50 per cent Ministerial salary increase as the Christmas season unfolds is sure to pi55 off even its own supporters! They should let sleeping salaries lie!

…nationalists’ recognition

Edghill’s motion to identify financiers of the D’Urban Jubilee Park was blocked by the Govt. Why wouldn’t businesses be proud to say they helped with the patriotic Park?