Govt. takes US$172M China loan for new Demerara River Bridge

Dec 31, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana on Friday signed an agreement with the Bank of China for a 160.8M Euros or US$172M loan for the advancement of the construction of the New Demerara River Bridge.

In a statement to the press, the Ministry of Finance announced that the Government completed the electronic signing of the loan on Friday.

In this year’s Budget, Government had set aside $21.1B or US$105M for the project. The new loan now takes the allocation for the bridge to US$277M.

Back in May of this year, a US$260M contract for the new Bridge was awarded to the Joint Venture of China Railway Construction Corporation (International) Limited, China Railway Construction (Caribbean) Co., Ltd & China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd.

This came following the scrapping of an earlier engagement with China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited which submitted a bid of US$256,638,289.

For this project, bidders were advised by the Ministry that they are required to bid on two options, a Design –Build and Finance option and a Design-Build-Operate, and Finance option. Notably, both options were to be financed by the contractor. However, in Budget 2022, the sum of $21.1B was allocated for the project.

A 3D model of the new Demerara River Bridge that was shared by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

In rushing to enact the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) or the oil account last year, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government, headed by President Irfaan Ali insisted that the funds will be directed to ‘national development priorities’ such as the new Demerara River Crossing.

At the end of November 2022, the NRF was holding over $290B or US$1.45B. Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo had even told Skeldon residents during an outreach in September this year that the oil money is only good enough to complete two projects, including the New Demerara River Bridge.

He explained, “When you hear a lot about the oil money and we’ve collected about US$350 million per year so far, the first two years, you think it’s a lot of money. But the Demerara Harbour Bridge alone, the four-lane bridge- there is US$260 million and the hospital, the Children and Maternal Hospital that we are building, which will be a World-Class hospital for our children and women – specialised hospital with the best care that you can get like any part of the world that’s about US$170 million. That alone is one year of the oil money.”

He went on to note that these two infrastructural projects alone could use up the funds gathered, without even considering the highways to be built on the East Bank of Demerara and other road works scheduled for their Region.

Meanwhile, the new structure, a hybrid 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 current Demerara Harbour Bridge is over 40 years old and connects the East Bank Demerara at Peters Hall with the West Bank Demerara at MeerZorgen representing an estimate of 40,000 to 45,000 people and over 20,000 vehicles each day (11,000 per direction).

According to the Government, 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.

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