As the Government flounders in its stated goal of creating jobs so that Guyanese can enjoy the “good life”, we remind the policymakers once again about the recommendations of the World Bank and other multilateral financial institutions on the utility of infrastructural projects, of which so many have already been initiated, to engender both growth and jobs. All the Government needs to do is pick up the ball and run with it.
One of the projects that come immediately to mind is the continuation of the UNASUR-sponsored “Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America” (IIRSA), which is supposed to link South America’s economies through new transportation, energy, and telecommunications projects.
We were included in the second component of the Guyana Shield Hub aspect of the Initiative, focusing on connecting us to Brazil. The construction of the Takutu Bridge was a standalone project within the IIRSA and this, of course, was completed since 2008. The next step was to construct an asphalted all-weather highway connecting Boa Vista to Bon Fin/Takutu Bridge in Brazil and then Takutu Bridge/ Lethem to Georgetown in Guyana. The Brazilian portion of the plan was completed even before the Takutu Bridge, so it is the Guyanese aspect that is in the air.
While in the Opposition, the now APNU/AFC Government had trenchantly criticised the PPP/C Administration for not pushing the project, which would have benefited the struggling mining town of Linden. The Lethem-Georgetown highway was only one aspect of the Guyanese leg of IIRSA, albeit a foundational one. At the northern leg, the Highway would have branched off to Berbice where it would have connected to a deepwater harbour, as part of the project.
With the Takutu Bridge already connected via Boa Vista to Manaus, the latter’s vast export of manufactured goods to the Northern Hemisphere would have found its long-sought vent via Guyana. Lethem and Linden as intermediate stops in Guyana would have provided necessary services and sopped up much of the unemployment precipitated by the stagnant bauxite operations there. Why is there no push to complete the Lethem-Georgetown Highway?
One suggested reason was that the Guyana leg of the project also includes the Amaila Falls Hydro-Electric Project (AFHEP) and this Administration seems determined to scuttle that potentially transformational energy source for our industrialisation. The argument from the now Government when in Opposition was that AFHEP’s proposed costs were too high because the PPP/C Government had padded the figures so as to have a cushion for “siphoning off” funds.
However, now that they have the reins of power, the Government has the wherewithal to investigate the AFHEP contract with a fine-tooth comb or solicit alternative bids from presumably “clean” financing and construction companies. This it has not done. While the AFC had claimed it would support the AFHEP if the Procurement Commission were formed, APNU had claimed it was waiting for the IDB’s due diligence report.
This is now out and should be released immediately so that any identified challenges can be addressed by proponents of the project. Alternatively, as was pointed out, the AFHEP is a component of the IIRSA and can, therefore, be funded through that route. In this regard, the Presidents of both Brazil and Guyana have reports and recommendations on their desks on how to proceed on the entire plan.
With AFHEP as part of the LCDS – in fact one of its linchpins – it has also received US million from Norway which is sitting in the coffers of the IDB. Guyana was paid for providing a service (carbon sequestration) to the world and because the conditionalities are usually “use it or lose it”, it is quite anomalous for Norway to be pushing us to make a decision.
What is important now is that the APNU/AFC must not cut its nose to spite Guyana’s face when it comes to going ahead with the infrastructural transformation that was envisioned by the PPP/C.
