The Lethem-Linden Highway is back in the news after the Brazilian Ambassador paid a courtesy call on the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and reminded that her Foreign Minister had recently recommitted to the completion of the long-discussed project. In fact, discussions were initiated as far back as in 1977, when then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham paid a State Visit to Brazil, and have been periodically resuscitated whenever there were official meetings between the two countries.
With Georgetown already connected to Linden via the highway built by the Americans in 1968, a Lethem-Linden connection would actually link Port Georgetown to Lethem to provide a gateway into the adjoining landlocked Brazilian state of Roraima. In Sept 2009, the Takutu Bridge was declared open, after a long gestation period, by then President Lula. He had promised its completion within a year after he had visited Guyana and been felicitated in 2005. At the opening ceremony of the Bridge, in the presence of the then Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo, Lula had announced that a Brazilian Technical Mission would be sent to Georgetown to study the financial conditions for paving of the Lethem-to-Linden highway project. Once completed, he declared, there would be a full land link between the city of Boa Vista and Bon Fin on the Brazilian side, and Georgetown – expanding prospects to Guyana and the entire northern region of Brazil.
At present, while Roraima might be landlocked, any highway connection to Georgetown would allow not only a smoother transit for goods from North America and Europe, but also for manufactured goods from the industrial city of Manaus in neighbouring Amazonas state to be shipped to markets in the North. At present, billions of dollars of manufactured goods have to be shipped down the Amazon River to the port of Belem on the Atlantic. Shipping the goods via Georgetown – or alternately, a deep-water port in Berbice – would shave off weeks from their shipping schedule. It would be a win-win situation, since Guyana would earn substantial transshipment fees and taxes.
The Highway from Bom Fin to Boa Vista to Georgetown is actually a part of the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRISA), which also envisages our coastal highways being connected to a bridge across the Corentyne River, which has also been mooted between Guyana and Suriname over the last decade – most recently on the visit of Suriname President Santokhi for the inauguration of President Irfaan Ali.
With the lassitude displayed by the Brazilians, who had promised to secure funding for the Linden-Lethem Highway, last year the PNC-led APNU/AFC Government secured funding from the British Government through its UK Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF) programme to complete a design for Phase One of the project. This is supposed to cover approximately 125 kilometres of the road (Linden to Mabura Hill) and also includes a bridge across the Kurupukari River. This was intermediated by the Caribbean Development Bank. The PNC-led Government had prematurely announced that the British Government was also funding the construction of Phase One, but backed off after the British HC refuted this assertion.
At this point, the new PPPC Administration should review the status of the funding for the entire Linden-Lethem Highway, which measures 450 km in its entirely, and is presently surfaced with gravel, making it become impassible in the rainy season. They should also consider whether it would be more feasible to have a bypass highway to connect to the Deep Water Harbour in the mouth of the Berbice River, as was envisaged in one of the iterations of the plan, and which would preclude further congestion of Port Georgetown.
The PPPC have reiterated that they would be focusing on improving our infrastructure, which is vital for us to expand the Local Content from the Oil Industry into lateral linkages with the rest of the economy. The Lethem-Linden-Georgetown Highway is an essential element in this plan.
