With a number of financial institutions indicating their willingness to lend monies for the project, a decision on financing for the bridge linking Guyana and Suriname on the Corentyne River can be made as early as the end of this month, Suriname President Chandrikapersad Santokhi says.
“Financing is the issue. So we agreed that the team of cluster of ministers from Suriname and the cluster team of ministers from Guyana should meet in the coming days and weeks with the technicians and come with a final proposal to the presidents,” Santokhi told the Stabroek News when asked for an update on the sidelines of the CARICOM summit last Wednesday.
“Finally, the two presidents of Guyana and Suriname will take a decision. That is planned for the first quarter of this year. I hope for the end of March or beginning April so we can start with the building of the bridge. They [the companies] are looking for finance, there are companies, there are institutions that are willing to finance,” he added.
Guyana and Suriname signed a memorandum for the bridge on November 24, 2020, during a visit by President Irfaan Ali to Paramaribo.
The Surinamese President said that the commitment made to build the bridge two years ago remains the same, and expressed that while some see the project as only a physical structure, it also brings social linkages.
“When we agreed to build the bridge almost two years ago, there was political commitment, a commitment that is still existing. It is not only a physical bridge connecting Suriname and Guyana. It is a bridge for regional integration. It is a bridge also for connecting the highway to Brazil. Also to bring the shorebase from the east side of Guyana and the west side of Suriname, and bring the business community from Brazil as the closest spot in shorebase in that area. Also the closest spot for oil and gas, [and] development of the bauxite.”
Further, he added, “The Bridge is often approached as isolated but it is an integral part of regional development on the agenda with President of Brazil, Lula, President Ali and myself. It is a regional strategy that we agreed and that agreement was signed two years ago in Suriname when Ali came over there.”
Late January, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, told the Stabroek News that a meeting between the governments of Guyana and Suriname would have been held soon to discuss the way forward regarding the financing of the proposed Corentyne River Bridge. The planned meeting came following word from the two companies that qualified for the project that they are unable to meet the pre-financing terms set out.
“We are awaiting a meeting with Suriname and will not comment before the engagement, since this is a joint project,” Edghill had said.
Suriname newspaper, De Ware Tijd (DWT), reported that on January 8, Santokhi stated that the qualified companies have disclosed that the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model proposed was not feasible, and both countries are now to look at financing.
According to DWT, Santokhi said that after the advice of the two ministers of public works, the two heads of government will decide on how to proceed with the project.
The Surinamese president explained the reason for the stall. “The initial plan was that the bridge should be built based on the PPP, Private Public Partnership, the financing of the company itself. Based on the Expressions of Interest there were 10 companies and finally we had two. Both companies had, done by writing, said that they are not any more interested in the PPP model so they are looking for financing.”
He said that while multinational agencies and private sector investors have signalled interest in financing the bridge, a decision will not be made until technical advice from the two countries are given.
“We haven’t approached but I spoke with IDB. Everyone is willing if they have the plan and the program. That is why we need the advice first from the cluster team of ministers, [to say] ‘Two Presidents, this is the advice. You know there are two companies, they are looking for financing and these are the options [the finance options]’, so that we can decide on them,” he expressed.
“We are looking for other types of finance. There are institutions from in and outside the region that are willing to finance it… It can be company [or] it can be state,” he added.
However, of key note, Santokhi pointed out that his country would not be able to take a loan.
“In our case, we are binded [bound] by IMF program. We cannot take the loan. So you need to be very pragmatic in this,” he said.
It is unclear if it would mean that financing will be footed by Guyana alone and what monetary contributions Suriname was bringing to the agreement. It is also unclear if Brazil will be part of the financing structure but a communiqué issued following trilateral meetings between Georgetown, Paramaribo, and Brasilia, stated that linkages were discussed.
“In the area of infrastructure, the Presidents recognised the opportunity to advance in the consolidation of projects that strengthen the physical and digital connectivity between the three countries, such as the full paving of the Linden-Lethem road, connecting the Brazilian state of Roraima to Georgetown, and the modernisation of the road connection between the Brazilian state of Amapá and the capitals of Guyana and Suriname, passing through French Guiana, which is to be included in future discussions on this route. They also emphasised the importance of examining, in this context, the measures for the optimization of these routes in terms of trade and investment facilitation,” the document stated.
In mid-October of last year, Edghill had announced that two companies, Dutch engineering company, Ballast Nedam, and Chinese-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), had submitted proposals to build the bridge over the Corentyne River to link Guyana and Suriname. Following an evaluation of the submissions, a proposal was to be made to Georgetown and Paramaribo and upon agreement, the selected company was to be announced, this newspaper was told.
However, no one from the Guyana Government has said anything to date on the pronouncements by the two firms that they are unable to finance the project and it was only after the Surinamese president’s announcement and the reporting of it in the media in Suriname that Guyanese became aware of the issue.
Five companies had been pre-qualified as contractors/ joint ventures. They were: CRBC; China Railway Con-struction International Ltd, China Railway Construction Caribbean Co Ltd and China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group Co Ltd; Ballast Nedam Infra Suriname B.V; China Harbour Engineering Company; and China Overseas Engineering Group Co Ltd, China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd and China Railway First Group.
With only two companies having submitted bids, it is unclear what the reason was for the diminished interest from the other three companies. DWT reported Suri-name’s Minister of Public Works, Dr Riad Nurmohamed, as saying that the PPP model price tag presented by one company amounted to “four times as high” as what was expected.
“According to the minister, there is no reason to (issue) a new tender. The two governments will be advised to engage with the lowest bidder and seek ‘cheap funding,’” DWT said.
When the project was announced, the Ministry of Public Works had said that that the Corentyne River Bridge would be constructed as a PPP arrangement in accordance with the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain model (DBFOM). This means that the successful contractor or joint venture would have been responsible for its final design, construction, financing, operation.
Trinidad-based consultants, WSP Caribbean, designed and proposed a two-section bridge connected by an island in the Corentyne River to link Guyana and Suriname. The design of the bridge was unveiled in June during a high-level decision makers meeting (HLDM) when the consulting team made a detailed presentation on the feasibility and design of the new infrastructure.
WSP in explaining their design, said the bridge will feature two lanes and will be able to accommodate a third in cases of emergencies or controlled conditions. The bridge superstructure will have a total deck width of 12.4 metres including lanes and shoulders with the carriageway measuring 10.05 metres. It will also have utilities inside the box girder with an internal inspection path width, an on-top inspection path; wearing surface: and extra concrete thickness, milled after closure. The bridge will also feature steel railing along with solar-powered luminaires at the deck slab edge, next to the deck inspection path.
From Guyana’s end, the bridge will be 1,100 metres with 22 spans, each measuring 50 metres in length while at Suriname’s end it will feature an elevated section. That section of the bridge will comprise two zones. Zone ‘A’ East it was explained, will consist of 20 spans at 1,000 metres and Zone ‘A’ West with 19 spans at 950 metres.
The WSP representative indicated that Zone ‘B’ which is referred to as the Main Bridge, will consist of 80 to 130-metre spans. Further, all the main bridge’s piers will be protected against ship impact and piers, and the access bridges will be protected by guiding monopile dolphins connected through tethered floating fenders.
