By Miranda La Rose
The Takutu Bridge linking Guyana and Brazil has been completed but there are a number of finishing touches to be done including the installation of the rails and it is anticipated that the bridge would be inaugurated by July.
Meanwhile, the Guyana/Brazil Partial Scope agreement which comes to an end next month is expected to be extended for another two years. And there are calls for businesses and potential exporters to add new products to the list of products which may be eligible for export to Brazil with the opening of the bridge.
Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation Dr Henry Jeffrey in a telephone interview told Stabroek News that among those products which may be eligible for export are pharmaceuticals.
In addition a delegation comprising technical experts from the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Inter-national Cooperation among other government departments would be travelling to Lethem over the weekend to assess the condition of the road and bridges along the way from Linden to Lethem and to make recommendations for their upgrading, as well as to determine the current status of works at Lethem in preparation for the opening of the port of entry and the commissioning of the bridge.
With the opening of the bridge, the Georgetown-Lethem road would be linked to the road from Bon Fim to Boa Vista to form part of the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA).
The Takutu Bridge is one of 335 projects identified by IIRSA – which is part of an initiative of South American governments to construct a new infrastructural network for the continent. The network includes roads, bridges, waterways, ports and energy and communications interconnections.
Meanwhile, Foreign Trade Officer Vanessa Dickenson told this newspaper that the span across the bridge has been completed but there are some other works to be finished along with the alignment and upgrading of the road from the bridge to the multi-purpose building which will house a number of offices to facilitate travel and trade across the border. The multi-purpose building is about 600 metres from the bridge.
According to Dickenson the multi-purpose building will house offices to accommodate customs, immigration and the police, and departments of the ministries of health, agriculture and tourism, as well as a trade administration division in keeping with the Guyana/ Brazil Partial Scope Agreement.
At present, she said that the departments of government which will be accommodated in the multi-purpose building are working with the Ministry of Public Works and Communication in partitioning the building. Other internal works such as the installation of electrical cables and the construction of cubicles are also taking place.
Vehicle insurance
On the issue of motor vehicle insurance, Dickenson feels that an agreement between Guyana and Brazil would be worked out in time for the inauguration of the bridge. It is felt at present that the cost for cross border motor vehicle insurance in Latin America, based on the Mercosur’s integrated road transportation agreement, was too high for the Guyana/Brazil link.
Dickenson said that Guyana has had some signal that the insurance fee could be reduced to accommodate Guyana. A meeting to deal with this issue had initially been planned for earlier this year but that was not held and it is anticipated that another scheduled meeting would be held in the near future, when she expects that the issue would be resolved.
Stabroek News has learnt that at present the Guyana government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brazilian government are working towards the inauguration of the bridge during the latter part of June or early July.
Work on the bridge resumed in April 2007, six years after work had ceased owing to financial irregularities and after an initial start-up.
In February 2005 Brazil’s President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva made a pledge in Guyana’s parliament to have the bridge completed by the end of the same year.
During Lula’s visit he had said he was very aware of the importance of the bridge for Guyana and the northern states of Brazil, particularly the land-locked state of Roraima and he had indicated that he would visit Guyana for the commissioning of the bridge linking the two countries across the Takutu River.
After the financial irregularity was sorted put, the Brazilian National Congress in 2006 approved the sum of US$3 million (Rs$6 billion) to the Brazilian Ministry of Transportation to resume work on the bridge. However it was not until April 2007 that actual work on the bridge resumed.
Seaport access
Apart from the importance of the bridge for trade in goods and services, including rice and sugar with Brazil, it is widely expected that the link would provide a much needed service to, and give seaport access to the landlocked state of Roraima. The bridge and route will also facilitate tourism and travel between the two countries.
The work which was done by more than one Brazilian contractor was supervised by the engineering corps of the Brazilian army, and Secretary-General of Brazil’s Ministry of External Relations, Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes Neto had assured on a visit to Guyana that it has built many roads and bridges in Brazil and had highly qualified people with long experience in construction on these types of projects.
