New Demerara Bridge could be funded by UK

Oct 10, 2015 News

…the single largest bilateral donor in Caribbean
By Abena Rockcliffe
There are still lots of details to be worked out; but Guyana is set to benefit tremendously from a hefty grant made by the United Kingdom of Great Britain to the Caribbean.

UK High Commissioner, Greg Quinn

Recently, UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited Jamaica. There, he announced that his government will invest £300 million for vital new infrastructure in the Caribbean. These include roads, bridges and ports to help drive economic growth and development across the region. The £300M allocated converts to about US$550M.
Yesterday, UK High Commissioner, Greg Quinn at a press conference at his residence to update Guyana about the fund, told the media that the funding initiative is aimed at re-invigorating the relationship between the UK and Caribbean countries.
He noted that this is something that his country has not done in a while. Evidently, the UK came back with a bang.
The Infrastructure Fund will be available to eight Commonwealth countries in the region eligible for Official Development Assistance. These countries are Jamaica, Guyana, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Montserrat as an ODA-eligible Overseas Territory is also under consideration.
Quinn said that the generous grant which comes with “no strings attached” has made the UK the single largest bilateral donor to the region.
The High Commissioner said that the UK will not make any demands of the countries that will benefit. He explained that the countries will decide on the projects that they want funding for and the funds will be made available through the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
However, giving examples of what can be funded through this project, Quinn pointed to the new Demerara River Bridge that the government plans to build.
“It is a bridge, and bridges are one of the things stressed upon by the Prime Minister…But the government of Guyana will have to decide.”
Quinn noted that not one cent of the fund has yet been allocated to any specific country. “We are still working things out.” However, he said that Guyana will, just as the other countries, get a significant portion.
The new government recently said that it will not use the Public Private Partnership (Px3) financial structure to build the Demerara River Bridge because it proved problematic when the previous administration used that model for the Berbice River Bridge.
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, said “I don’t know which model we will use but it will not be the Px3, we are not going down that route again.”
The existing two-lane floating bridge was constructed in 1978 by the UK firm Thomas Storey Engineers Limited and had a life of 20 years. From 1995 to 1998 the bridge underwent major rehabilitation by the Damien Ship Yards of the Netherlands at a cost of US$9M and was given an extended life of 15 years (from 1995).
At present, the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) carries out intensive annual maintenance and element replacement activities on the bridge structure to provide a continuous level of service.
The Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation is responsible for the management and collection of tolls. The average annual revenue collection is approximately US$1.9M.
Quinn explained yesterday that although UK contractors will be allowed to bid for projects in the region, they will have to compete with local contractors. He said that they should be dealt with on their merit and not just because they may be British.

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