Hooray for the Guyana-China relationship

Aug 17, 2023 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

Region 3 social and economic development would not be derailed by simmering concerns over Guyana’s relations with a development/trade partner, China. The new Demerara River Bridge which is being built through a Chinese joint venture will open vast new economic opportunities in the region, including the provision of greater access to markets, faster transport/ travel, uninterrupted flow of traffic, less carbon emission, and significant reduction in lost person hours. These factors will combine with others to stimulate and unleash the region’s entrepreneurial potential.

A well-known businessperson, RR, who transacts business with several countries including China, reminds us that Guyana has established trade and technical assistance for decades with China. That relationship began with the historic link that commenced in 1853 when Chinese indentured laborers were imported to work on sugar plantations. By 1879 when Chinese immigration ended, 13,541 Chinese landed in Guyana., The majority of Chinese and their descendants have made Guyana their home and have established businesses, while many have entered the various professions.

Says RR, “It is the government’s neutrality (non-aligned) policy in international relations that will also allow Region 3, as well as other regions, to burst forth with new economic opportunities, including infrastructural development. The new bridge that is being built by Chinese contractors and with a loan from China will serve as an important gateway to the gas-to-Shore pipeline project that terminates at Wales. This project is being executed by Exxon, of which the Chinese company CNOOC is a partner. Guyana has established 50 years of diplomatic engagement with China. Region 3 residents’ exuberance overshadows any worry over the growing trade and business relations between Guyana and China. They want and cannot wait too long to enjoy the prosperity (of which the new bridge is a component) that the government promised.

The new bridge that will run from Nandy Park on the East Bank to La Grange on the West Bank Demerara, is a fixed structure, not built upon pontoons, but above water, high enough to allow ships to pass. The new bridge with a length of 2.65km, a driving surface width of 23.6 meters, with bicycle lanes, will facilitate regular, uninterrupted traffic on its four lanes (two lanes each way). The projected life span is 100 years. The new bridge will replace the existing bridge which is 45 years old (35 years more than its projected life span of 10 years). The new bridge will accommodate more than 18,000 vehicles per day and thousands of commuters.

A previous bridge project proposal under the Design-Build-Finance (DBF) model at a cost of $(US) 256.6 million by China State Construction Engineering Corp Ltd was shelved by the PPPC government because of the high financing cost. The government proceeded next to negotiate with China Railway Caribbean Company Ltd (CRCCL) and its partner China Railway Engineering Bureau Group Company Ltd (CREBGCL) to construct the bridge but not under the DBF model. They agreed to build the bridge at a slightly higher cost of $(US) 260.8 million but with far better financing terms and with funding from the Guyana budget which accounts for $(US) 100 million and a loan of $(US) 160.8 million from the Bank of China Ltd.

The fact that the new bridge is “the biggest transport infrastructure project in the history of the country,” combined with other contract awards to Chinese contractors such as the $(US) 184 million East Coast Road, and President Dr Irfaan Ali’s recent visit to China, have unsettled some people’s nerves. They believe that Guyana might be caught in the middle of a new Cold War battle between China and the US. This is an ambivalent position. Although India, for example, has joined an anti-American economic system called BRICS that plans to replace the US dollar as the medium for international trade with their own BRICS currency, there has not been any outburst over this.Skeptics conveniently forget that China’s biggest investment in Guyana is within the oil and gas industry. The Chinese company CNOOC holds 25% of the stake in the Exxon consortium. This means that CNOOC’s investment (development) in four oil fields: Lisa I, Lisa II, Yellow Tail, and Payara was $(US) 7 billion, which is 1.8 times Guyana’s 2023 budget.

It is conceivable that Guyanese skeptics recall the during the Cold War between Russia and the United States, how the latter intervened to curtail the ministerial power of the PPP government after their 1961 electoral victory, and how they also removed the PPP government from office in 1964. Any fear should be allayed as those interventions happened in the early 1960s when Guyana was a colonial territory; now Guyana is an internationally respected sovereign state where the circumstances are anathema to intervention.

The PPPC government is unequivocally committed to democracy, the rule of law, the Guyana constitution, inclusive governance, as well as remain faithful to the to the Chaguaramas Treaty and various UN resolutions on freedom and democracy. Let us be clear: China and India are important partners in Guyana’s development, and so is the United States, CARICOM, and other countries. And the importance of Guyana-China relations is also shared by residents in the other regions of Guyana.

Truly yours,

Dr. Tara Singh

---

• Dr Tara Singh, Guyana-China, traffic, travel, uninterrupted

---