-floats four-lane bridge for river
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo last week said that a planned deepwater port will still be located in Region Six as he stressed that the Berbice River could have a four-lane bridge – an idea which is currently on the drawing board.
On the deepwater port which he was questioned about, Jagdeo explained that there have been several studies done “so the key question is if you build it offshore there just at the mouth of the river they said the sedimentation is too heavy, the dredging cost, the maintenance cost is very high… And still you can’t get the required depth to bring in the massive vessels.”
However, he assured that the port will still be located in the Berbice region as they currently work to pinpoint an appropriate and workable location. “We are looking at where we are closest to the deep so how far out because we are thinking about a causeway type of port where you build out about maybe three, four kilometers into the sea and that’s where you build the causeway so you don’t have to dredge ever again in the history, dredging cost could run you to billions of dollars, US dollars…”
“So still on the cards but the geography of the area has affected us because every study, we have had three studies and they’ve said the worst thing to do is to put it to the mouth of the river.”
According to Jagdeo, the idea is to build a causeway out which is being done in other countries “that’s where your port is and that is the model we are working on now but it will be in the region.”
Furthermore, he added that “the mouth of the river still would be done for industrial development so we are now thinking about this gas to energy project and possibly you could utilize that area for a massive gas to energy project, industrial areas where more jobs can go just there.”
He then pointed out that with the four-lane highway being done in the region, 60 km of which has already been awarded, “even if you build the port elsewhere you can move the goods, you would have a lot of jobs there, move the goods from there to the port easily with containers…”
Berbice Bridge
Meanwhile, Jagdeo also stated that the Berbice River will see a new four-lane bridge. It currently has a floating structure.
“We made it clear also we are doing the fixed concrete bridge across the river that would be a permanent structure so you don’t have to open bridge and all of that, a four-lane bridge across the Berbice River, that is at the drawing board for that now.”
He said that in Region Three major wharfs are being constructed and “reclaiming the land offshore at the mouth of the Demerara River and putting up some massive wharfs there, the containers can land there, bigger ships can come in, they push down the cost of freight.”
Jagdeo then stressed that Berbice will similarly transform “with this four-lane road from Crabwood Creek all the way to New Amsterdam, the stadium, the track, even the facility at Albion where you can play international cricket, you have two international cricketing venues in Berbice, this place would be unbelievably changed.”
