CHEC conceptualizing proposal for Guyana Deep Water Harbour

Jul 02, 2012 News

---

… Govt. denies involvement in latest Chinese venture

 

By Gary Eleazar
“Our manifesto – our contract with all the people of Guyana for the next five years – spells out a number of policies and projects which we intend to pursue to achieve the objective of a diversified, modern, competitive and resilient economy.”
Those were the words of now Head of State, Donald Ramotar, who was at the time the Presidential Candidate for the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C). In his charge as he commenced his bid for Presidency, he also indicated that, “Amongst the many initiatives which we will complete are the development of hydroelectricity, a new fibre optic cable and the construction of a deep-water
harbour, an all-weather road to Brazil and a bridge to Suriname.”
The fibre optic cable project is more than 90 per cent complete, the hydropower project has been pushed back, studies continue for the road and negotiations have already started with the Surinamese President Desi Bouterse, on bridging the Corentyne River.
This leaves the construction of a Deep Water Harbour, which Ramotar proposed, “will allow for larger vessels to come use our ports and allow us to exploit our geographical positioning as the gateway to South America.”
Tang Talks
The first public pronouncement on this deep water harbour since Ramotar secured the Presidency, was made by Zhongdong Tang on Thursday last, at the Guyana Pegasus during a media engagement.
Tang is the Regional Director for the Americas (The Caribbean and Latin America) for China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) which was recently successful during negotiations with the Guyana Government then headed by Bharrat Jagdeo.
That 10 month round of negotiations landed CHEC the US$150M Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Expansion project.
Zhongdong Tang has now conceded that his company, CHEC which has come under increasing scrutiny following allegations of corruption by the World Bank, is in fact conceptualizing a proposal to make an offer to construct Guyana’s Deep Water Harbour.
However several senior Government Officials have denied any involvement on the part of the administration in the Chinese venture.
This is despite Tang saying that at present while there has been no formal proposal to the Guyana government, there have been some ‘verbal’ discussions.
Tang was at the time trying to evade a line of questioning aimed at unearthing what other proposals were made to the Guyana Government apart from the one for the airport.
He reminded of China’s offer to the Caribbean Region of several billion dollars to be made available in the form of soft loans for infrastructure projects in the Region.
CHEC is a Subsidiary Company that falls under its parent company China Communications and Construction Company (CCCC), which he described as a Chinese Government Holding Company.
CCCC is akin to Guyana’s National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) which in itself has several companies falling under its rubric such as the National Communications Network and the Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL).

Guyana’s Deep Water Harbour is being touted as a critical piece of infrastructural investment that holds the potential to enhancing trade and economic activity according to Ramotar, with “our neighbours, along with making Guyana a more attractive destination for investors seeking to penetrate the continental market.”
In relation to the Deep Water Harbour, Tang told media operatives on Thursday last that, “We are interested but we cannot have any conclusions at this moment… at this moment a Deep Water Harbour is just a concept… that needs to go through engineering work – no negotiation…We haven’t officially proposed.”
In an opening address at the Third China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum held sometime back in Trinidad and Tobago, the Chinese Vice-Premier, Wang Qishan, announced several steps which his country will take to consolidate its already considerable influence in the Caribbean region.
Among measures announced is a US$1B loan to Caribbean countries to support local economic development and US$1M donation to the CARICOM Development Fund.
Among some of the other support measures that China extended to the Caribbean Region includes increased Caribbean exports to China, the provision of resources to boost agriculture and fisheries as well as support for the development of alternative, small-scale energy projects such as solar power.
One condition for the loans that are being made available to the region is the fact that Chinese Companies have to be selected for the execution of the projects for which Chinese money is being provided.
Guyana has over the years been exploring the construction of a Deep Water Harbour and had even collaborated with the Indian Government where a feasibility study was conducted.
That study had indicated the port should be built in the Berbice region since the water has the necessary depth and the area is not congested.
Meetings were held with the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), private terminal operators and shipping agencies to gather information for the study.
In addition, aerial and site visits were carried out to collect information for further analysis.

---

---