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Hire Indian consultant for $50M road loan
– India tells Guyana
India has proposed to extend a US$50M line of credit to the Guyana Government for the East Bank/East Coast Road linkage project, but the condition is that the latter would engage an Indian consultant in consultation with New Delhi to develop technical and financial parameters of the project.
Providence, EBD: Government of Guyana is hoping to run the new highway through Providence to East Coast of Demerara.
The Indian Government, according to a report of the Financial Times, is also supposed to assist the Guyana Government in the selection of an executing agency.
Sources in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said that the ministry could not find a suitable public sector road project consultant. The ministry would now have to look for one from the private sector to carry out the job in Guyana, the sources added.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had in August last year requested MoRTH to give it a list of PSUs under its jurisdiction which may have the capability to undertake the task. However, in response, MoRTH had conveyed that there were no PSUs under its jurisdiction which are capable of undertaking the job.
MEA has written to the MoRTH again on April 6, requesting it to “kindly” convey a list of empanelled public or private sector consultants who may be suitable for the purpose.
The sources said, following MEA’s letter, MoRTH has already started working on the matter and soon float a tender seeking letters of intent from the interested parties belonging to the private sector for carrying out the task.
Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, Feedback Infrastructure Services, said there is a wealth of talent in India from the private sector for the job and companies engaged in the job.
“These are doing a commendable job in various parts of the world including South-East Asia and Africa and thus, it would not be much of a problem for MoRTH to select one from them,” he said.
MoRTH has six associate offices under its jurisdiction, with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) being the biggest of them. However, NHAI often gives away the consultation part of a highway project to private parties.
Guyana wants the project to solve some of the congestion woes along the East Bank and East Coast Demerara corridors.
Traffic from the Timehri airport, Linden, and West Demerara area all converge at the East Bank Demerara highway, leading to frustrations by drivers and commuters alike.
A four-lane highway extension is delayed but even when completed will not be enough.
It is the idea to run a new road behind the new housing schemes along the East Bank Demerara area and link it to the East Coast of Demerara, via Ogle or the other communities.
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