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NBS investment in Berbice Bridge a sound one

Apr 28, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
Reading a letter from Mr. Winston Brassington in the Guyana Chronicle on April 25, 2009 captioned, “Berbice Bridge Investment a good one for NBS” was the kind of factual message I really wished NBS would have put out ages ago to allay any fear members of the public may have on their latest investments in the Berbice Bridge.
The analysis, the clarity and the smoothness in the thought process was spot on.  Thank you Winston, since I was extremely concerned that the “gloom and doomers” were starting to sound believable.
All that I am interested in as a member of NBS is this – Was the investment in the Berbice Bridge by NBS good for its members?  Winston’s letter was clear in that answer.  In summary these are the points of emphasis that I suggest we concentrate on from Winston’s letter:
1.  “The Berbice Bridge bond yield between 9% -10% per annum tax free” (T/Bills provide on average 3% per annum);
2.  “The Berbice Bridge to date has seen traffic that surpassed the original estimates by 30%.” Bottom line – more traffic, more revenue, more money to pay the interest and capital on the bond, thus more security on the income stream of NBS. To ring fence the protection for NBS, the Toll Formula contained in the Concession Agreement, allows for accelerated repayment of capital from any excess revenue;
3. Most importantly, “NBS has been paid in full all of its interest earned to date on the Berbice Bridge bond”, so what is the fuss? We must not mix up the CLICO mess with the Berbice River Bridge even though the bond was bought from CLICO since the source of income of CLICO and the source of income of the Bridge are separate and distinct.
I fully understand the preliminary anxiety of the Concerned Citizen’s Group before Winston’s letter, but now that the facts are out, they should back off the Berbice River Bridge Bond issue and focus more on helping NBS become stronger since no one wants NBS to weaken since in my view NBS is a very sound building society and is very far from failure.
NBS in addition to an economic decision has taken a patriotic decision to support our people in crossing the Berbice River in a stress free environment.
The intangible value of crossing the Berbice River in a stress free environment is immeasurable. If any of the members of the Concerned Citizen Group was every exposed to that “crassing – yes crassing”, since I think it was a crass to one life to jump on that Berbice River ferry, they would appreciate what duty NBS has fulfilled in jumping to a nation’s rescue by exiting CLICO from the Bridge Project. (Do we know of financial contagion, well CLICO’s mess could have adversely impacted on the Bridge and it is a blessing to de-link them from the Bridge?)  So thanks to NBS for rescuing Guyana yet again, this time from that Trinidadian investor who “raped and then robbed us”. (I honestly think that people of the Duprey kind should be banned from visiting Guyana since they are worst than terrorists).
Thanks Winston, I wish there were many more like you in Guyana, who would do their maths before opening their mouths, since only then trust and credibility can be built.  The people want to hear from their public figures, but these public figures must be informed, cool, calm and collective. We are tired of the daily “cuss out, tenement yard style” from some public figures in an attempt to hide their incompetence.
When last have we observed the public utterance of Ralph Ramkarran and Donald Ramotar – cool, calm and collective, these gentlemen think before they speak? I wish more of our public figures can emulate these leaders.  But that takes class, experience and pedigree.
Sasenarine Singh

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