With road networks to link Linden, Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) to the rest of the country as well as provide easier access to Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana upcoming. Public Works Minister Juan Edghill on Tuesday stated that in the development of Guyana, Linden is central.
Once these networks are fully completed, Edghill explained, there will be smooth travel from Brazil through Linden, as well as all the way to Suriname and French Guiana.
“You know what that means, ladies and gentlemen, captains of business, entrepreneurs that are in this room? Twenty million people in Northern Brazil have unhindered access to Guyana, and Guyana’s businesses have unhindered access to a twenty-million-person market in Northern Brazil. And the traffic will begin to flow,” he outlined during a meeting with members of the business community in the region.
Residents of Linden and surrounding communities must start positioning themselves to tap into a market of some 20 million people in Northern Brazil when the all-weather road to Lethem is realised, he added.
Linden, he highlighted, will soon have easier access to markets not just in Brazil but also all the way to Suriname and French Guiana.
“So, on that road, people have to get rest stops for the truckers. You have to get restaurants. When people are passing through or come to Linden, we have to get more rooms. We’ve got to get service stations. Are you all following me? … More taxis. We are developing Guyana. And in the development of Guyana, Linden is central,” Edghill emphasised.
Infrastructural projects
This is as a result of the ongoing infrastructural projects to connect Moleson Creek to Palmyra, linking it to a new four-lane bridge over the Berbice River, which will then connect to a new four-lane highway all the way to Sheriff Street, before branching out into various road connections leading to Linden.
“The entire Linden-Soesdyke Highway is being refurbished, reconstructed and rehabilitated. The bridges are being expanded to make sure that pedestrians don’t have to walk on the path of the road; width is being given to ensure that if a truck or a vehicle has to park, there is continual two-lane traffic. And added to that, you can use the road day and night because we are installing 2900 street lights on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. When you reach Linden, what are you crossing over on? A toll-free four-lane bridge between Mackenzie and Wismar. And then you start at the Linden-Mabura Road, which is under construction,” he noted.
Edghill explained that the Linden-Lethem all-weather road is divided into three other lots: Mabura Hill to Kurupukari, Kurupukari to Annai and Annai to Lethem.
He said works will soon begin on the Annai-Lethem stretch. From Moleson Creek, there will soon be unhindered travel to Suriname via a bridge over the Corentyne River, Edghill highlighted.
Abundant business opportunities
Further, with plans to develop a deep-water harbour at Palmyra, the opportunities will become more abundant, Edghill said.
“Brazil, a landlocked country, where it takes them seven days, sometimes 21 days, through the Amazonia; especially when it is dry, it takes longer to get the water to ship their goods. [They] will do an 18- or 24-hour drive to Guyana and put their goods on our waterway to ship it out. So, you are going to be seeing haulers and containers – all [with] products – coming through northern Brazil, through Guyana, to the deep-water harbour. Can you imagine the traffic?”
This creates countless opportunities for residents of Linden, the Minister pointed out.
“So, if it’s mangoes you’re selling, you’ve got to start planting more mango trees. Because by the time four trucks pass, your basket of mangoes is done,” he said.
In further outlining the future that lies ahead, Edghill noted that these opportunities do not happen by chance.
“This is not hodgepodge planning. It is forward thinking,” he said.
With this projected traffic passing through the country, Edghill stressed that citizens must start looking for opportunities that can generate real income.
He referenced a tourism project in Tobago. “One of the biggest things that happens when tourists come out is they want their hair braided. And when you go on the beach, along the Tobago beachfront, people set up with a nice big umbrella…plaiting hair, and you ask the girls who are braiding hair on Tobago beach how much money they make. Plenty,” he said.
“You know what I am trying to tell you. The time has come when people must stop looking for a high-heel-shoes job, and a suit job, and a tie job. And you start looking for opportunities where you can make real, real, real, real money,” the Minister asserted.
Government-Private Sector Partnership
Meanwhile, Edghill assured that the PPP/C Government will continue to work with the private sector to ensure their businesses grow.
“There has never been a Government that has been so much in partnership with the private sector to help the private sector to grow, develop, expand, and modernise like the People’s Progressive Party Civic,” Edghill expressed.
He highlighted that, over the last five years, the private sector has benefited from opportunities in “ways unimaginable”, such as improved access to financing and a favourable taxation system.
“We’ve put in place the single window system where you don’t have to grease anybody’s palm every place where you go to get a permit. And put in place laws that if after a certain amount of time an application is made and nobody can deal with it, it is deemed granted,” he outlined.
“Because nobody can take your application and dock it until you come up with the money to make them look after it. If the law says if after a certain amount of days you don’t get back anything, it is deemed approved. We’ve taken away the bureaucracy.”
Edghill emphasised that the PPP/C understands how to work with the private sector and is able to generate real results.
“All of you knew what percentage you paid for loans to the bank. Just compare what you are paying now. Why is it that we are able to bring down interest rates? Because we are able to work with banks and financial institutions,” he said.
He further highlighted that the PPP/C put in place policy environments to keep money circulating in villages to ensure that the distribution of wealth is not lopsided but among all of the people.
For instance, he reminded us that “here in Region Ten, with the kind of infrastructure rollout and projects that are taking place, more than $150 billion has been expended in projects – money circulating in Region Ten. You know what that means? Hotels for the people who’ve got to come and work. Transportation for transportation providers. Restaurants are getting businesses. Hardware stores… All over, everybody selling.”
The party’s aggressive infrastructure plan for the next five years – with the building out of concrete drains in every community – will ensure this circulation of money continues, he assured.
