Latest update April 7th, 2025 12:08 AM
‘Rubio can say what he wants about Guyana’s roads’- Jagdeo
…says govt. had already planned to do asphaltic overlay on US$65M Heroes Highway
Kaieteur News- The government of Guyana had planned to have an asphaltic overlay placed on the US$65M Heroes Highway which was commissioned in December 2023, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said.
He told reporters at his weekly press conference, held at Freedom House, that plans were in train for the overlay ahead of the recent visit by United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Guyana.
Rubio, shortly after leaving Guyana, made reference to the bumpy nature of one of the roads he was driven on, noting that “we almost had concussions.”
The US$65M Heroes Highway
While at a press conference in neighboring Suriname, the US official spoke about the poor quality of roads in Guyana and cast the blame on the Chinese. The US$65 million road that Rubio referred to was, in fact, built by local contractors. The highway connects Eccles with Great Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD). Rubio had to traverse this highway to make his way from the airport to Guyana’s capital.
For his part, Jagdeo said that while Rubio has a right to express his views, people were focusing on the wrong aspects of his visit, instead of the positives, such as the strong statements warning Venezuela that any aggression towards Guyana would not be tolerated by the United States.
“Marco Rubio also said that he drove down a bumpy road and that it is built by the Chinese. Now personally, I don’t know which road he was talking about, but he has a right to say what he said,” Jagdeo said.
He then explained that Rubio’s comments could be Heroes Highway or the Timehri to Craig Road, which is being built by the Chinese.
“So it could be that road or it could be the Heroes Highway. Personally, many times people ask me about the bumpy nature of the Heroes Highway, and I too have been critical of this and we made it clear months ago that there would be an overlay and an asphaltic overlay on this road,” Jagdeo said.
“But it’s not an unfair criticism that the road in some places is bumpy…we said there would be an asphaltic overlay over the road, but these people are negative about anything and they jump gleefully on it… I sat here and I talked about the 95% that are done well, people don’t talk about those, they talk about the 5% that are not done well,” the Vice President said as he criticized members of the opposition for highlighting what Secretary Rubio said about the road.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
At the press conference in Suriname, Rubio said his problem with China is two-fold. He spoke about China’s Belt and Road Initiative and noted that in many countries, Chinese companies set up operations and “they do a terrible job. Not a bad job, a terrible job.”
To this end, Rubio shared that he had just come from Guyana and was escorted on a road that he was told was built by the Chinese. “We almost all had concussions, because the road was so bad it was terrible. They paid these people to build this road, and then they bring their workers. They bring their workers; they don’t hire you; they bring their workers in to do all the work. And then they want you to borrow a bunch of money, and then they hold it over your head,” Rubio said.
He explained that he wants countries to have alternatives and not be solely dependent on China. “If you’re going to build a road, I want you to, like, have a real road. They were better off with a dirt road than the road we were just on. And it’s not the fault of the current administration in Guyana; that was a road that was built before. But they did a terrible job,” Rubio said.
He continued, “If you did that job in America, someone would sue you for a lot of money, okay? It was a bad road. So we want to be able to ensure that we are providing alternatives to what we think is bad work by the Chinese that never finishes on time, is always over budget, and brings their own workers, don’t even hire the locals.”
(‘Rubio can say what he wants about Guyana’s roads’- Jagdeo)
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