The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)-funded Linden to Mabura Hill road construction and upgrading project has attracted billion-dollar bids from Chinese and Brazilian companies.
The bids for the project were opened on Wednesday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board at the Ministry of Finance offices in Georgetown.
Three Chinese firms submitted separate bids. China Railway International tendered a bid for $33,808,790,866, while China Gezhouba Group Company submitted bid of $29,962,374,374, and Shandong Luqiao Group Company Limited tendered a bid of $30,225,357,170. In a joint venture, Guyanese company EOCI and Brazilian firm, Castilho, tendered a bid of $35,138,144,149, while Construtora Queiroz Galvao S.A. submitted a bid of $29,546,747,077.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill yesterday told Sunday Stabroek that they are currently in the process of evaluating the bids.
In October, the minister said that they were pushing for a contract signing by the end of the year.
Last December it was announced that the CDB, the United Kingdom Government, and the Guyana Government, had partnered to fund a US$190 million project for the upgrading of 121 kilometres of road from Linden to Mabura Hill.
CDB is putting up US$112 million via a loan towards the project. The approved sum for the project represents the largest project that the regional bank has financed in its 50-year existence. The UK is providing a US$66 million grant and the Guyana government will provide US$12 million.
The road is expected to be upgraded from a fair-weather road to an all-weather asphalt concrete one and would include new drainage infrastructure with enhanced capacity to mitigate the effects of flooding.
Construction of the thoroughfare is expected to improve connectivity between Guyana’s hinterland and the coast and is the first phase of a wider plan to develop a transportation corridor from Georgetown to Lethem on the southwest border, thereby connecting the port in Georgetown with northern Brazil.
The unpaved 450-kilometre road from Linden to Lethem is often impassable during the rainy season due to flooding along its low-lying sections. It is anticipated that the upgraded road corridor will provide year-round connectivity between Linden and Mabura Hill, improving conditions for local and long-haul transport which can increase trade between Guyana and Brazil.
