According to a release from the Government Infor-mation Agency (GINA), a local team of officials including Head of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) Claudette Rogers, MARAD’s director of Ports and Harbours, Taig Kalicharran and officials from the Public Works Ministry met with a technical team of officials from India, which included Alvin Kumar, Advisor of Transport Research to the Government of India on Friday last at the Princess International Hotel on the East Bank of Demerara.
According to GINA, Kalicharran stated that the deep water harbour initiative is not new to Guyana but owing to the growth of the economy and external activities construction of the facility was seen as necessary. He stated that the one-week study which was undertaken by the Indian Government concluded that the Berbice area was most suitable for construction of the facility as waters bordering that area have the necessary depth and the area is not congested.
The release stated that the Public Works Ministry is willing to provide additional information if requested by the Indian Government via the Indian High Commission so that the study will be successfully completed.
One of the attractions of the port would be to allow faster access from Brazil’s landlocked northern states to the Atlantic Ocean.
According to GINA, in addition to aerial and site visits, Kumar stated that meetings were conducted with MARAD officials, private terminal operators, and shipping agencies who assisted the team in gathering information relevant to the study and these activities benefitted the team in that it was able to compile pertinent data for further analysis.
Kumar, the release stated, being knowledgeable of Guyana’s vast natural resources, stated that the harbour will be useful in exporting key commodities such as bauxite, timber and agricultural products since it will provide better connectivity to foreign markets.
