Latest update August 20th, 2026 12:07 AM
Development and Transportation
In the coming months as the campaign to form the next government unfolds, we will raise issues that we believe the several parties ought to take a stand on. We begin with the need to improve our overland transportation network.
In our quest for development, every administration has stressed the remarkable potential that inheres in our nation because of the plethora of resources with which we have been endowed within our eighty-three thousand square miles of continental real estate. Yet even as we rush towards a half a century of Independence, that potential still by and large remains untapped.
One of the prime reasons why we have been unable to unlock that potential is that we have not broken out of the coastal enclave carved out by the colonial powers, which had made us into a poor replica of the other colonies in the Caribbean –sans the beautiful white beaches.
So here we are with one of the lowest population densities in the world overall, yet ninety percent of our three quarter of a million population are packed like sardines in an area of some two hundred square miles.
To declare that we have to open up the country is to state the obvious: there will be no sustainable development of a magnitude that will catapult us into the list of developed countries unless we have easier access to the potential that is locked away in the interior of our country.
One of the long-recognised threshold components of that easier access has been a highway from the coast to the Brazilian border. Starting from the days of British colonial administration down to the present government there have been discussions between the governments of Guyana and Brazil, at the highest level, on the modalities to construct that highway.
The last we heard through Ex Brazilian President Lula, was that the funding was available from their side.
So what is the holdup? One objection that is reflexively raised by Guyanese authorities is that we are going to be swamped with Brazilians. But if we install a solid border security system (and this is another issue) why should this be a problem if we concede that we need settlers to help with our development drive?
Maybe we ought to open up a debate on our overall immigration policy. Another objection is whether such a highway is “economically” viable: meaning whether the economic returns from the highway can justify the sure-to-be enormous construction cost.
But to focus only on the immediate economic benefits of opening up our interior is to miss what it has meant for our developmental thrust not to have accomplished this up to now.
Every developed country that was blessed by a large landmass, very early on in its journey out of poverty, had to open up their lands – whether through railroads or highways.
There is no alternative. Just as this newspaper supports the construction of a new capital – away from our always threatened coastland – we have to take the bull by the horns and commit to the highway to Brazil – especially now that the Takatu has been bridged.
But the road to Brazil is only one aspect of the need to look at our overall transportation needs within our strategy of sustainable development.
The Bridge to Berbice will give a fillip to east-west trade within our country but the potential for a deep-water harbour on Crab Island or just off it confirms that the road from Brazil through Lethem should not terminate at Linden but should continue on to Berbice to take advantage of the larger ships that can be accommodated there.
The present Linden-Georgetown Highway can handle some of the freight to Port Georgetown – even though congestion problems will have to be confronted.
In addition to the synergies obtained by the inevitable closer linkages to the Northern Brazil economy, overseas markets are indispensable for our own production possibilities from our interior – whether in agriculture or forestry or mining etc. An improved transportation network is key to servicing those markets.
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