Completing Infrastructural Plans

As the Budget debate rages in Parliament, there is unfortunately more heat than light being produced on several issues. One of them in the continuation of the UNASUR sponsored “Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America” (IIRSA) which is supposed to link South America’s economies through new transportation, energy, and telecommunications projects.

We were included in second component of the Guyana Shield Hub aspect of the Initiative, focusing on connecting us to Brazil. The construction of the Takutu Bridge was a standalone project within the IIR-SA and this, of course, was completed since 2008. The next step was to construct an asphalted all weather highway connecting Boa Vista to Bon Fin/Takutu Bridge in Brazil and then Takutu Bridge/ Lethem to Georgetown in Guyana. The Brazilian portion of the plan was completed even before the Takutu Bridge, so it is the Guyanese aspect that is in the air.

While in the Opposition, the now APNU/AFC Government had trenchantly criticised the PPP/C administration for not pushing the project, which would have benefitted the struggling mining town of Linden. The Lethem-Georgetown highway was only one aspect of the Guyanese leg of IIRSA, albeit a foundational one. At the northern leg, the Highway would have branched off to Berbice where it would have connected to a Deep Water Harbour, as part of the project.

With the Takutu Bridge already connected via Boa Vista to Manaus, the latter’s vast export of manufactured goods to the Northern Hemisphere would have found its long sought vent via Guyana. Lethem and Linden as intermediate stops in Guyana, would have provided necessary services and sopped up much of the unemployment precipitated by the stagnant bauxite operations there. It was therefore of great surprise to observers that there were no mention of a push to complete the Lethem-Georgetown Highway.

One suggested reason was that the Guyana leg of the project also includes the Amaila Falls Hydro-Electric Project (AFHEP) and this administration seems determined to scuttle that potentially transformational energy source for our industrialisation. The argument from the now Government when in opposition was that AFHEP’s proposed costs were too high because the PPPC Government had padded the figures so as to have a cushion for “siphoning off” funds.

However, now that they have the reins of power, the Government has the wherewithal to investigate the AFHEP contract with a fine-tooth comb or solicit alternative bids from presumably “clean” financing and construction companies. This they have not done. While the AFC had claimed they would support the AFHEP if the Procurement Commission were formed, APNU had claimed they were waiting for the IDB’s due diligence report.

While it was remarked en passant during the budget debate that the IDB had concluded AFHEP was not viable based on the present financial structure, the government has not released the full report. This they should do immediately so that any identified challenges can be addressed by proponents of the project. Alternatively, as was pointed out, the AFHEP is a component of the IIRSA and can therefore be funded through that route. In this regard, the President’s of both Brazil and Guyana have reports and recommendations on their desks on how to proceed on the entire plan.

Another worrying aspect of the Government’s silence of the integrated project is that AFHEP is part of the LCDS – in fact one of its linchpin – that has received over US$80 million from Norway and is sitting in the coffers of the IDB. In these matters, while Guyana is being paid for providing a service (carbon sequestration) The conditionalities are usually such that it is either “use it or lose it”.

What is important now is that the APNU/AFC must not cut its nose to spite Guyana’s face when it comes to going ahead with the infrastructural transformation that was envisioned by the PPPC.