The government has signed agreements valued at US$222 million with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as part of its efforts to speed up Guyana’s development efforts.
The Ministry of Finance in a release on Monday announced that Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, and IDB President, Ian Goldfajn, had signed three Agreements for investments in the transport and health sectors as well as to support Guyana’s economic competitiveness. The signing ceremony took place during the XI Annual Consultation of Caribbean Governors at the Hyatt Regency in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Agreements were 1) First Individual Operation for Health Care Network Strengthening in Guyana valued US$97 million; 2) Programme to Support Climate Resilient Road Infrastructure Development – US$117 million; and 3) “Enhancing the National Quality Infrastructure for Competitiveness” Reformulation and Additional Financing – US$8 million. The three Agreements have a total value of US$222 million.
Before the signing ceremony, Dr Singh thanked the IDB on behalf of the Government of Guyana for its support to Guyana as he noted that the Bank has been providing “strong support” to Guyana’s development efforts, not only in recent years, but over the long-term.
“The IDB has been a reliable and dependable development partner to Guyana. The strength of this partnership is evidenced not least in the three agreements that we are going to sign today, making critical investments in three areas that go to the core of the development of our Government’s agenda.”
Meanwhile, Goldfajn in his remarks stated that the bank was happy to participate in the development of Guyana. “Guyana is growing and we are very lucky to be part of this growth,” he stated while noting that the projects are in priority areas.
According to the release, the objective of the Project – First Individual Operation for Health Care Network Strengthening in Guyana – worth US$97 million, is to improve the health of the Guyanese population through increased access, quality, and efficiency, of health services. It explained that the specific objectives of the first operation are: (i) improve health outcomes associated with low and high complexity procedures, by expanding the capacity of strategic hospitals; (ii) extend coverage of diagnostic, medical consultation, and patient management services, inclusive of the country’s hinterlands, through digital health services such as telemedicine, electronic health record strategy and the strengthening and expansion of teleradiology, and teleophthalmology ; and (iii) increase the efficiency of the public health system, by strengthening key logistic, management, and support processes and inputs such as supply chain management (including expansion of warehouse capacity, and software and hardware for an electronic supply chain management system).
Further, this investment will support the expansion of the capacity at seven hospitals in both coastal and interior communities, extend coverage of diagnostic exams and medical consultations, advance medical services, and increase access to a more efficient public health system. This project is expected to benefit over half of Guyana’s population including the indigenous community with interventions in all ten of the country’s regions.
The release continued that the general objective of the Project – Programme to Support Climate Resilient Road Infrastructure Development – worth US$117 million, is to advance Guyana’s safe, efficient, and climate resilient road and associated infrastructure. The specific objectives are to improve: (i) road service quality; and (ii) utility service, along the East Bank Demerara corridor through road and corresponding utility infrastructure improvements.
Value-chains
The rehabilitation of this corridor, it explained, represents a key component of the country’s road network within the integration corridor that connects to Brazil via Lethem, and supports key value-chains including manufacturing, food processing, construction materials, mining and forestry, and agricultural commodities, including fertilizer. In addition, this corridor is “extremely critical” given the increased economic activity on the East Bank of Demerara and its connectivity to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the Soesdyke to Linden Highway, and future development of Silica City, an initiative of President Irfaan Ali.
It added that in addition to widening and improving this important West Demerara Corridor, the project will address retrofitting of bridges, reconstruction of lateral drainage systems, relocation of electricity, water and telecommunication distribution networks, construction of passing bays, parking and stopping lanes, street lighting, improved curbways, and passenger walkways to enhance commuters’ comfort and safety.
For this project, in addition to a loan of US$100 million, government will be contributing US$17 million to this important road infrastructure, the release disclosed.
The third Project – “Enhancing the National Quality Infrastructure for Competitiveness” Reformulation and Additional Financing – worth US$8 million will support economic competitiveness. Specifically, the programme seeks to improve the National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) capacity to promote the adoption of quality standards among Guyanese micro, small and medium enterprises.
This investment therefore represents additional financing to support the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), given the overall changes in the economic structure of Guyana and the increased demand for services including laboratory services. It also complements the works being undertaken under the current NQI project which is under implementation to complete the construction of the GNBS laboratory in order to strengthen its technical, regulatory and compliance capacity.
“The President Ali-led Government has embarked on a period of rapid transformation and has laid out a master plan for massive development and transformation of Guyana. The Government has noted that it remains committed to working assiduously to make this vision a reality so that benefits can redound to the citizens in the shortest possible time,” the release added.
