The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has concluded two agreements with Guyana totalling US$40 million for the provision of funds to upgrade the West Coast Demerara road and to provide a grant to facilitate projects here under the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF).
Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh and CDB Vice President Carla Barnett signed the agreements for a US$34 million loan and US$6 million grant in the boardroom of the Ministry of Finance yesterday.
The agreement for the Fourth Roads Project, Singh said, would see the upgrade of the West Coast Demerara Road from Vreed-en-Hoop to Parika. This project is estimated at US$47 million, of which the CDB is providing a US$34.2 million loan.
“This project is the latest instalment in our efforts to upgrade and expand our country’s physical infrastructure and in particular the country’s transport infrastructure, recognising the catalytic role that transportation plays in our economic development,” he said, while noting that “over 100,000 persons will benefit from this upgrade since they live in or commute through that area.”
He added that for the loan, the designs have to be concluded and a public procurement process started. He said government expects to award the contract before the end of the year.
The minister also lauded the work of the CDB in funding the Community Roads Improvement Project (CRIP) and called it a prominent example of the work of the bank. He said that CRIP is funding community road rehabilitation in 12 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) across the country.
Singh noted that the grant agreement under the BNTF is aimed at meeting basic needs and targeting critical poverty alleviation intervention in vulnerable communities across the region.
He said that Guyana has had the privilege of being the largest beneficiary of the BNTF programme in recent years. He pointed out that out of a total of US$46 million, Guyana is getting some US$6.154 million. He said that while it is yet to be decided how this money will be allocated, it will be spent on funding projects in the area of education, infrastructure and water.
“It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the role the CDB has played in administering this fund,” Singh said. He also thanked the contributors to the fund, amongst them Canada, which he called an extremely generous contributor to the BNTF.
In speaking of the impact the fund is having on Guyana, the minister said that he has had the privilege of visiting many projects across the country. “I have witnessed how communities across our country have benefitted from BNTF programmes,” he said, while pointing out that this was not only in the area of small infrastructural projects but also in skills training, ICT training, among others. “I was extremely gratified to hear the stories of how many of these graduates had gone on to acquire jobs with their newly acquired skills,” he added.
“The CDB has also done work in education and skills training. The most prominent example of that would be the two brand new technical institutes built at Leonora and Mahaicony. They represent an important addition to our tertiary education stock,” he said.
Meanwhile, Barnett revealed that in addition to the signing of the agreement yesterday, the CDB was engaging the government on the programme that it will be working on with Guyana over the next four years. “…Our country strategy. In that programme, we will talk about the areas through the various projects and programmes,” she said.
Barnett said that the international financial crisis impacted the region but not to the point where non-borrowing members of the bank scaled down their contributions. “The impact has been in the case of the CDB more on the demand for additional borrowing, since our borrowing member countries had several constraints [impacting on their ability] to borrow,” she said. “For many of the countries, we have seen growth actually decline. Guyana is an exception to that and in the last few years we have seen the economy of Guyana actually expand and we are very happy about that. We would like to tell you to continue and consolidate that growth,” she added.
In October 2012, the Board of Directors of the CDB approved the allocation of US$46 million to 10 participating countries under the seventh phase of the BNTF 7 Programme, the Bank’s flagship poverty reduction programme.
Guyana, with an allocation of US$6.154 million, is the largest beneficiary of the programme, which also includes Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The bank said that since 1993, when Guyana joined the BNTF Third Programme, it has received funding of $29.406 million,
It said that the BNTF has played a vital role in assisting the Government of Guyana in its poverty reduction efforts. The project contributes to the reduction of poverty reduction of targeted communities by financing investments for improved infrastructure and livelihood enhancement.
