President commissions access bridge at Palmyra linking CGX Inc Berbice Deep Water Port

Dec 19, 2021 News

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By Malisa Playter-Harry

Kaieteur News – As Canadian owned oil and gas exploration company, CGX Energy Inc. and its subsidiary Grand Canal Industrial Estates Inc. (GCIE) pushes ahead with civil works for the construction of the Berbice Deep Water Port, on Friday President Irfaan Ali, during a visit to Region Six, commissioned its approximately US$1M access bridge.

Located on 30 acres of land on the eastern bank of the Berbice River, just adjacent to Crab Island, the access bridge has been under construction for the past few months linking the access road to the port.
It should be noted that works on the access road is still ongoing but following the simple ribbon cutting activity, the Head-of-State, along with Ministers of Government, including Dr. Ashni Singh and Deodat Indar, visited the port that is estimated to cost US$130M.
Professor Suresh Narine – Chairman of CGX Inc. noted in his remarks Friday that while the project has been “percolating” for 10 years, it has recently gained “tremendous momentum.” The oil and gas supply base, he said, is expected to be completed and fully operational between August and October 2022, along with the other parts of the facility.
“We are on schedule and on budget; we will have the rest of the facility built to handle agriculture import and export. That will be ready in 2023, this part of the facility will be for a total expenditure of $80M and then we have earmarked another 10 acres for development following that,” said Narine. He went on to note that “of the 30 acres we have up there, we have earmarked 10 acres to be a living laboratory of mangrove habitats, to study how habitats can co-exist with commercial development and this is tremendously important as has been announced by our President that we are pursuing a low carbon development strategy, so it is a great opportunity for Berbice.”
With the construction of the port, it is expected to provide some 1,000 jobs during the construction phase of the project and another 300 when it is completed, CGX had announced. It was revealed too that agricultural and general cargo service operations are set to be completed in 2023.
President Irfaan Ali as he addressed the gathering of private and public sector representatives, stressed that the ultimate plan for Region Six and by extension the country, is to develop and build sustainable communities. He underscored too that sustainable jobs, social services, economic empowerment and opportunities, coupled with reduce disparity between the rich, the middle class and families, are “fundamental elements to sustainable development.” He added that “a total revamp of infrastructure” is required for the building of the regional and national plan altogether and as such, for that expansion to take place, “infrastructure that is robust and macro in nature to provide a catalytical push to advance those opportunities” is required. The Head-of-State noted too that Region Six has the “catalytical push” to foster trans-border development.
“So if we have the deep water harbour (port) in Region Six that is linked to Suriname and other opportunities, the infrastructure must be in place to take care of this. We must have wider roads; we must have better highways and most people do not understand that Region Six has the important catalytical push to bring trans-border development,” President Ali said.
He expressed optimism that the investment of the port by CGX and GCIE will see containerised traffic, direct export upgrades and will reduce cost of transport and logistics which ultimately will bring direct benefits to the consumer.

“Today, we see an investment that will lead to trickle down opportunities for transport and logistics, oil and gas services, but a critical link between the two is energy. We will have cheaper energy; we will have greater industrial development, greater manufacturing so the type of investment that we are doing will support it but it requires infrastructure development.”
Meanwhile, Minister responsible for Finance, Dr. Singh, dubbed the commissioning of the access bridge as a “momentous occasion” and noted that while the commissioning of the bridge is important for economic development to take place, “it did not just happen” but it was the foundation that was laid many years ago. He added that assurances were given by the CGX Chairman, Professor Narine that the project will be completed on time.
“We want this to happen and to happen in a hurry,” he asserted.
With the recent consecutive commercial discoveries on Block 58 in Suriname and the exponential increase in drilling offshore Suriname, coupled with the ongoing exploration and production activities on the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana and explorations wells to be drilled by CGX and others in 2021, the demand for ports servicing these operations have grown almost exponentially. Currently, more than 75 percent of the port business servicing offshore oil and gas operations in Guyana and Suriname are provided by Trinidadian ports. However, there are cost, fuel and carbon footprint concerns for companies operating in Guyana and Suriname as the sailing time to Trinidad ports to the fields offshore Guyana and Suriname require approximately 48 hours of sailing one way, as opposed to between 12 and 14 hours from the Berbice River location for the CGX Port.
This means that significantly more fuel is consumed for services from Trinidad based ports, leading to increased carbon emissions and escalation of costs related to fuel consumption, equipment rental, wear and tear and complicated logistics. Importantly, this presents an opportunity not only for CGX, but also for Guyanese seeking to capitalise on the emerging jobs in the oil and gas industry.
Also speaking at the event was the High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana, Mr. Mark Berman, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, Regional Chairman, David Armogan and President of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association, Ryan Alexander.

 

 

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