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Guyana got value for money from US$32M China loan for broadband – Jagdeo
…admits fibre optic cable project was a failure
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo said that Guyana received value for money from the US$32M loan which his administration accessed in 2012 to pursue Government broadband project.
His declaration came days after the current coalition administration inked another loan agreement with China pursue a broadband project. That loan is US$36.5M.
“I don’t know what their end game is. Our end game was total connectivity. Lay fibre across the country so that you can get high speed internet right across Guyana. Bring in more fibre so you can lower the cost of bandwidth to the country then connect all the state institutions and move into a E-Governance mode,” Jagdeo stated.
The US$32M taken by the Jagdeo administration is payable over 20 years with a five-year grace period and two per cent interest rate.
That money was expected to produce a networking system that includes 54 towers and a data centre stretching from Moleson Creek, Berbice to Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast. That project was undertaken by the Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei.
“The Huawei programme we took it; it’s not wasted because that rolled out the network,” Jagdeo stated.
He added, “I believe we got value from that contract.”
He noted that sometimes people confuse the US$32M loan with the project that utilized local funds to lay fibre optic cable connecting Brazil to Georgetown.
A Brazil-linked fibre optic cable cost US$4.5M and was executed through a contract signed between Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, on behalf of the then Government and Faisal Mohamed on behalf of Dax Contracting Services.
The project was abandoned when the current Government came to office in 2015. Jagdeo agreed that the project was a failure.
“We sought to build that cable to Brazil. That was a failure. It was a failure. The design parameters were all wrong etc. It was. The fibre got cut many times in many places while they were laying it,” Jagdeo stated.
Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes, noted that the Government is not going back to the previous fibre optic project.
“We would have been far more ahead in terms of connecting the country had that fibre optic cable been in existence today. We have done survey and research on it and given the changes in technology the monies we would have spent to correct the high level of damage in the way the physical cable was laid made absolutely no sense. Unfortunately, we lost in that area. It was money down the drain,” Hughes stated.
When asked about the previous US$32M loan, Hughes stated that Government is looking forward.
“We got an exciting range of deliverables for the future,” Hughes noted.
The new broadband project is touted as improving e-government, e-education, e-health and e-security with the establishment of a command centre for the police to help keep track of patrol cars and expanded Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) monitoring. It is envisioned that more cameras will be installed around the city.
Data protection in the ministries and other government agencies will also be strengthened as part of the project. Hughes noted that the project will also deliver smart classrooms and connect more coastland communities with the hinterland.
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