Brazilian officials have reiterated the political commitment of Brasilia to proposed infrastructure projects here including the hydropower project in the Mazaruni and the Linden-Lethem road.
Over the past two days, the Guyana-Brazil Joint Commission on Infra-structure Projects met at the Guyana International Conference Centre and discussions centred around the progress relating to the Mazaruni hydropower project and the Linden-Lethem road, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Critics have said that Guyana has moved slowly on these projects, several of which have been seriously on the agenda for the last 20 years.
The Governor of the State of Roraima, Francisco Rodrigues and Senator Romero Juca, Vice-President of the Brazilian Senate travelled to Georgetown to participate in the meeting. They paid a courtesy call on President Donald Ramotar at the Office of the President during which discussions were held on potential areas for new cooperation between the two countries including air-links, the Ministry said.
“In expressing their views on the current projects under discussion in the Joint Commission, both the Governor and Senator reiterated the political
commitment of Brazil to the infrastructure projects and highlighted the importance of the Linden-Lethem highway as one which was extremely strategic for the integration of Guyana and Brazil and more particularly, was a vital link for the communities of the State of Roraima and Western Amazonas and Guyana,” the statement said.
“They saw the hydropower project, the road and deep water harbour as initiatives that could contribute to the further development of both countries,” the Ministry asserted.
The statement said that in remarks made at the meeting of the Joint Commission, Minister of Public Works and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Robeson Benn expressed the Government’s appreciation for the continued support of the Government of Brazil and reiterated the Government’s commitment to working with Brazil to advance the infrastructure initiatives.
In March this year, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said that a joint venture between Guyana and Brazil would see the undertaking of studies beginning in early April to determine the possibility of developing two hydropower sites in the Middle and Upper Mazaruni, Region 7.
The studies—a prefeasibility and a feasibility—are estimated to cost US$45 million and according to Rodrigues-Birkett, will be fully financed by a consortium of two Brazilian companies. “The consortium, Queiroz Galvao and OAS is ready to commence the studies to determine the feasibility. These studies must be completed and fully analyzed before any decision is taken by the Government of Guyana on the way forward with respect to hydropower development in the Middle and Upper Mazaruni,” the minister said at a news conference.
It was stated that the pre-feasibility study will take 12 months to complete and thereafter the feasibility study will take another 12 months.
On February 27, Rodrigues-Birkett had told the National Assembly that Guyana and Brazil have given the go ahead for the studies to be carried out. She had said that the new development came from a Memorandum of Under-standing on Infrastructure Development that was signed between the two countries in December 2012. The primary objectives, she had explained, were for a hydropower plant, Linden to Lethem to Brazil road and the construction of a deep water port.
Meantime, in relation to the recent meeting, the Ministry said that at the technical level, the delegations were led by Ambassador Elisabeth Harper, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Clemente Baena Soares, Director of the Department of South America, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil and included officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Works, Transport and Energy of Brazil and Guyana, the Office of the Governor of the State of Roraima, the Office of the President of Brazil, the Brazilian Embassy in Guyana, the Office of the Prime Minister of Guyana, the Guyana Energy Agency, National Commercial and Investments Ltd (NICIL), Eletrobras and the Guyana Power and Light Company as well as the Consortium.
