Investors needed for Kurupukari Bridge, dry dock facilities, rest stops in Guyana – Edghill

…says “possibilities keep climbing”

The Guyana Government continues to woo investors with the abundance of opportunities available in Guyana especially in building out the country’s infrastructure.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill on Wednesday outlined some of these areas during a panel discussion on ‘Investing in Guyana: Growing Opportunities’ at the International Energy Conference that is being held at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown.

He noted that as the country builds out a corridor to connect with its surrounding neighbours to improve trade and ground transportation, the Linden to Lethem Road Project will play a major role as part of that connectivity.
Works are presenting ongoing at the Linden to Mabura section of that road network – a US$190 million project that includes the construction of 45 bridges. However, Edghill disclosed that another critical component of that superhighway road to Brazil is a bridge at the Kurupukari Crossing, which is along the trail to Lethem.
Consequently, the minister invited potential investors to explore this opportunity for a public-private-partnership.
“On the road to Brazil, we are building 45 bridges but there is still yet a major structure to make that road a 24-hour road. That’s at Kurupukar – it’s a 600-metre bridge. There is a possibility there for an engagement for private-public-partnership,” Edghill
Currently, a pontoon is used to take vehicles across the Essequibo River into Kurupukari – a settlement on the river. With this river transportation, a journey to Lethem usually takes between 12 to 14 hours. But the Public Works Minister posited that this could significantly be reduced with a bridge at the Kurupukari Crossing.
“Investments can come and make that 24-hour [crossing with the bridge]. People pay to cross on the pontoons, there may be some discussions on it being a toll bridge. A great possibility exists there,” the public works minister noted.

Corridor of connectivity
Meanwhile, as Guyana builds out a ‘corridor of connectivity’ as a direct link to Brazil, Suriname and even French Guiana, another room for investment along the Linden-Lethem Road has been identified.
Edghill told potential investors at the Energy Conference that once the Linden-to-Lethem Highway is completed and vehicles start traversing on it, there will be the need for rests stops.
“Once we’re going to have trucking of commodities on that corridor, there is need for investors to start talking to go invest and Dr Ramsaroop about rest stations for truckers, motels along the way, heavy-duty equipment services. Once you have trucks coming in, they will need to be serviced, tyres need to be fixed… So, the possibilities keep climbing,” he noted.
The Linden-Mabura Road is being upgraded to a two-lane all-weather, asphaltic road from sand and dirt. The road will be approximately 121 kilometres long and 7.2 metres wide with a three-year timeline.
The project is being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) via a US$112 million loan, a grant to the tune of £50 million (US$66 million) from the United Kingdom Government under its Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (CIPF), and an input of US$12 million from the Guyana Government.
The Linden-to-Mabura Road will feature a cycle and pedestrian lane measuring 2 metres wide, along with 10 bus stops outfitted with ramps for persons with disabilities. Additionally, a number of bridges and culverts along the way will be replaced, and some 123 lights will be installed.
Moreover, the Guyana Government is in the process of securing financing to further upgrade the road from Mabura to Lethem.
According to the Public Works Minister, government’s national plan entails putting in place all of the infrastructure to connect people and places, provide goods while at the same time have a continual corridor of connectivity between Guyana and its neighbours.

Dry-dock facilities
However, these plans to enhance the country’s infrastructure comes on the cusp of the burgeoning oil and gas sector. Consequently, there are works being undertaken to similarly modernise sectors directly linked to the petroleum industry.
This includes the maritime sector, where tremendous works have already been undertaken to modernise the outdated legislative and regulatory framework. Minister Edghill noted that there is an abundance of opportunities available for investments in the maritime sector such as in dry-docking facilities.
“In the maritime sector, there are lots of opportunities because we have to deal with vessels. And one of the major investment opportunities that exists right now, is dry-docking. Every vessel must go into dry dock at a particular time and I think we have very limited dry-docking capabilities, and that is an opportunity that we need to see expand more and there is a framework for that,” the minister stated.
He noted that if the current rapid demand for dry-docking continues that Guyana would have to outsource this service. This, he added, could be addressed with investments in more dry-docking facilities here.
“Everything that should be done here would either have to go to Trinidad or somewhere else to get it done. But we could get dry-docking done right here. There is enough water, there is enough facilities [to be developed and] private-public-partnership partners could definitely come into [play here],” he stated.
In addition to this, the Public Works Minister also pointed to the massive investment potential that lies along the Demerara River, where there are untapped prime waterfront properties.
Currently, the Guyana Government is constructing a new US$260 million high-span bridge across the Demerara Rive which is being built 55 meters above water level.
According to Edghill, this means that all the prime water front properties south of the current Demerara Harbour Bridge on both sides of the river are available for development through partnerships.
“We have a number of local persons who might already own lands but they might not have all that it takes to get to the next level of development that is required. Joint ventures, private-public-partnerships for the development facilities that would support agriculture, that would support tourism, support oil and gas is available,” he stated.
The Public Works Minister also pointed potential investors to opportunities that will become available upon the construction of the Corentyne River Bridge that will link Guyana and Suriname.
The high-span bridge will run approximately 3.1 kilometres, connecting Moleson Creek in Guyana to South Drain in Suriname with a landing on Long Island in the Corentyne River, where a commercial hub and tourist destination will be established. That duty-free zone will see major infrastructural development such as hotels, recreational parks, entertainment spots, tourist attractions, malls, and farmers’ markets.
Edghill said investors should rushing to take advantage of the opportunities that will come in that duty-free commercial zone.
“The discussion is going on about how we can get that island developed as a fun park, hotels, water sports, and we’re thinking about putting in duty free zones on both sides. I think you should start rushing down to the east and start looking at that because that’s a major opportunity for private-public-partnerships,” the minister stated. (G8)