A New Capital

Aug 14, 2008 Editorial

Some ideas are accepted as valid but their implications may be so enormous and profound that their implementation never gets off the drawing board.

This has been the fate of the idea that Guyana urgently needs a new capital in spades: it would appear that the idea has not even been transferred to a drawing board.

The idea of creating a new capital had arisen even in colonial times. It was widely conceded that the entrenchment of settlements on the razor-thin coastline was holding back the development of a country that had been richly blessed with many resources in its interior.

The colonial power, however, never mustered the necessary energy to go beyond some mutterings about linking the said new capital to some projected railway to the Brazilian border.

By the time the Brazilians showed the rest of the world in the sixties how a spanking new capital (and city) could be carved out of a virgin jungle, the British had lost interest in developing Guyana and were flailing around for an exit strategy.

But what is our excuse? Added to the need to get our people’s attention focused on our continental destiny, has been the bombshell of global warming.

This warning has moved from the realm of Chicken Little crying, “The sky is falling”, to a Nobel Prize being awarded to scientists and other activists who have brought the phenomenon to the fore of our consciousness – hopefully.

Very simply put: global warming will in the very near future – five decades at the best? – cause the oceans to rise at least one metre.

When this is added to the one metre that we are already below sea level, then it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what is ahead.

The maintenance of our sea wall is already placing enormous strains to our budget and it is only with the generosity of the EU that we have been literally able to keep our heads above water.

A rise of one metre in the level of the ocean will make the upkeep and even survival of the sea walls completely untenable.

What we need at this time are visionary leaders who can move the idea of a new capital from the fringe of our consciousness of a few concerned citizens into a grand plan that can galvanise our people with a concrete plan for the literal construction of a new Guyana.

At a minimum there ought to be a committee established that would bring together the experts in the field who can sketch out the parameters of what it would take for us to establish a new capital.

For instance, do we take the plunge and move the capital, as did Brazil, deep into our interior, or do we move it not too far inland in our Sand and Hill Region that abuts our coastland? There is much to be said for the latter plan.

There would be no need for a massive movement of citizens into the jungle and it is this concern that has been the greatest deterrent to potential settlers who may want to move from the coast.

Secondly, if our policy makers are serious about the road to Brazil now that the Takatu River has been bridged, the design of a new capital can be incorporated into that scheme.

It has been touted that the Brazilians would need more than one port and that the road could be extended to Berbice to utilise the deep water harbour potential of the Berbice River.

This offers greater scope to the area within which we can locate the new capital.

In the short term once we have a plan, new government initiatives that include the expansion of its building stock can set the ball rolling by locating them at the new site. We have seen this in the development of Boa Vista in Brazil next door.

They laid out the outline of their new city around the village that existed in the sixties and gradually these have been filled in.

Finally, the creation of a new capital may remove the dog-eat-dog attitude that has developed within so many of our politicians.

The possibilities opened up by a new capital may open their eyes to the fact that a vibrant plan can provide space – of all types – for all of us and that development can be a win-win situation for all Guyanese.