Following a statement by British High Commissioner Greg Quinn that no decision has yet been made on the construction of the road between Linden and Mabura under a United Kingdom-funded project, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson yesterday said that works will commence with local funds already approved in the national budget.
In an article headlined, ‘Paved road from Guyana to Brazil’, this week’s Sunday Chronicle reported Patterson as saying that following the final mission from the UK-Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF) programme, it was decided that there will be a paved road between Guyana and Brazil. The article reported that Patterson said that phase one of the project will be launched on October 1st and covers approximately 125 kilometres of the road (Linden to Mabura Hill) and includes a bridge across the Kurupukari River.
In a statement yesterday, however, Quinn said that no decisions have been taken on the next phase of the project. He said that as part of the UKCIF programme, over the last year, the UK has supported initial design work for the construction of the road between Linden and Mabura and the bridge at Kurupukari. The project is being implemented by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
“No decision has yet been made on the next, construction, phase of this project. Similarly whilst the UK funded the design phase of the Kingston-Ogle seawall project through UKCIF, no decision has been taken on the next phase of this project either,” he said.
When contacted by Stabroek News yesterday, Patterson clarified that he did not say that paving of the road will commence from October 1st of this year. He pointed to a Facebook post by his ministry on the same day the Chronicle article was published which denied that paving works will commence on October 1, 2019. “Minister David Patterson was quoted incorrectly. In fact, the project is currently at the procurement stage where the ministry is selecting the prequalification of contractors to execute the paving works, it is this process that is scheduled to commence on October 1, 2019,” it said.
Patterson yesterday emphasised that his ministry will not start any new projects during government’s interim period.
However, he told Stabroek News that the works on the road will commence with the monies already allocated as government had committed to funding a part of the road leading up to where the UKCIF/CDB road project would begin. He observed that over $200 million was already allocated in this year’s budget for this and it is that money that is being used for the works he alluded to.
According to the minister, if it was a “normal year”, works on the road could have continued as per schedule. Govern-ment’s work, however, has been stalled by the passage of the December 21, 2018 no-confidence motion against the administration. He said that his October 1st reference related to the fact that it was the proposed date for when the project would be advertising for contractors be shortlisted for the project, which falls under the UKCIF/CDB-funded programme.
“We have also about $200 million or $300 million in our budget [that] we have already undertaken to do the link to Wismar to Rockstone junction. We have moved equipment from Berbice, established a ten-acre site and the teams have been sent up there and we started stockpiling ….there is a stretch of road in the township of Linden which goes from Wismar Junction to Rockstone Junction. It was always agreed that we would do that. We said we will do the first five kilometres of works at the exact same specification on what the final design was agreed. We will do that…because you can’t have a highway with certain specifications and then come into that type of road,” he said.
“From the 1st October, we are going out for request of contractors for shortlisting. It’s a process. Obviously, we won’t award a contract because that is not in keeping with the tenets of this period,” he said.
Patterson explained that the CDB is the executing agency for the project and has approved a loan amount for Guyana equivalent to what the British government has awarded as a grant. “We have borrowed an equivalent from the CDB on concessional terms and that is to do the road and the bridge,” he said.
Under the UKCIF, the UK’s Department for International Development will provide up to £300 million in grant financing from January 2016 to March 2020 to several Caribbean countries including Guyana. Guyana is to benefit from £53.2 million (around $16 billion) with the funds to be applied to six major infrastructure programmes, including waterfront development, water supply improvement and solid waste management. The CDB has been designated by the UK government to design, develop and implement the programme in collaboration with Guyana.
