A team of consultants from Good Earthy Development met President Bharrat Jagdeo on August 9 to facilitate discussions for coalition among Guyanese engineers and financiers to connect a railway between Boa Vista in Brazil and Guyana’s capital Georgetown.
President Bharrat Jagdeo
The Good Earth Development officials included Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Chatarpal, Gregory Shaw and other clients who held talks with the Guyanese Head of State at the Office of the President. The company is soon to have a Guyana office.
Chatarpal told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the rapid growth in Guyana’s economy and its geographic position to Brazil and South America has been the motivation behind the concept.
“There is a growing urgency from the business community in Guyana as well as in Brazil to facilitate some sort of interconnectivity between the two countries to make this a possibility,” Chaterpal said. He said President Jagdeo welcomed the initiative and assured of government’s patronage to what appears to be a further tangible link between Guyana and its South American neighbour in the area of infrastructure.
Guyana was the first country on the South American mainland to have a railway and during the recent One Stop Shop exercise at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, President Jagdeo had disclosed ideas for a railway from Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara to Mahaica on the East Coast of Demerara as he spoke of plans to expand the country’s infrastructure. Guyana has far advanced in its plans for trade and investment with Brazil, particularly northern Brazil with major upcoming projects such as the Lethem/Linden road. In September, 2009 the Takutu River Bridge was commissioned making cross-border trade and other relations between Guyana and Brazil easier and stimulating interest of Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states.
Then Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva had pledged to support paving the road from Lethem to Linden which, apart from air travel, has been the main source of ingress and egress to Lethem, Region Nine the closest point to Brazil.
President Lula had promised to send a technical mission to analyse the financial conditions for the undertaking.
In Region Nine, Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo, several joint venture projects are underway, especially in the agriculture sector for rice and other produce.
In early 2010, a delegation of Brazilian investors met with the Linden business community to foster areas of cooperation, partnership and business development. The mining town is recognised as a potential hub for trade.
Government has maintained an open policy to foreign investors including Brazil its closest neighbour and a world class player on the stage of world economics and world politics today.
