Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh said that the Government yesterday completed the electronic signing of a loan agreement with the Bank of China for 160.8 million Euros (US$172m) for the building of the New Demerara River Bridge.
This is according to a release from the Ministry of Finance.
In May this year, the Government signed the US$260M contract for the major new bridge as part of its plans to expand and modernize Guyana’s transport infrastructure.
The project was awarded to the Joint Venture of China Railway Construction Corporation (International) Limited, China Railway Construction (Caribbean) Co., Ltd and China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd.
A Design, Finance and Build (DFB) model had been agreed by the Guyana Government for the US$260m. It is therefore unclear why Guyana is signing the deal with the Bank of China. The press release yesterday provided no information on the terms of the deal or where the rest of the financing will be coming from.
The release from the ministry yesterday noted that the hybrid designed bridge will feature a modern four-lane structure (two carriageways), cycle lane, with a 2.65 kilometers length, driving surface of about 23.6 meters or 77.8 feet and will have a lifespan of some 100 years.
The release said that the new bridge will offer easy connectivity to both the existing East Bank Demerara road as well as the new Diamond to Eccles bypass, the existing West Bank Demerara road, and the new Parika to Schoonord road. It added that the new high span, four lane bridge will facilitate the smooth flow of traffic without congestion and delays.
The four-lane, high-span fixed bridge will terminate at Nandy Park on the East Bank of Demerara
While China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) had originally been the most responsive bidder when companies tendered for the project last year, negotiations fell through.
CSCEC, in its tender document, pegged the cost for the construction of the bridge at US$256,638,289.
Government then began negotiations with the second most responsive bidder, China Railway, and its partners, in January of this year.
Sources had explained to this newspaper that CSCEC’s proposed rate of interest was not agreed to as the company’s negotiators were adamant that it would not accept a fixed rate and had wanted to set the conditions for changes “that would have been solely determined by them”.
