Latest update September 20th, 2026 10:40 AM
APNU demands release of Berbice Bridge agreements
…as govt. announces $400M acquisition
(Kaieteur News) – The agreements governing the financing, ownership and eventual acquisition of the Berbice River Bridge should be made public, Member of Parliament for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Dr. Terrence Campbell, said on Friday.
Responding to questions from the media about the process and agreements under which the bridge was financed and subsequently sold back to the Government, as well as whether the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) recouped its investment, Campbell said the lack of publicly available agreements makes it difficult to determine what returns the NIS received.
“We can’t even tell because the agreements made have not—the agreements signed, if any, have not been made public. The Berbice River Bridge was a massive heist by cronies of the PPP government,” he said.
The Berbice River Bridge
Campbell said he did not recall all the exact figures but noted that private investors reportedly contributed less than the NIS, while receiving common shares that carried voting rights.
“The cronies put up X and they got what are called the common shares, the shares that are able to vote and so on, and the NIS put up more than X, the NIS was the biggest investor,” he said.
Campbell pointed out that although the NIS provided the majority of the financing for the bridge, it did not receive common shares. Instead, it received preference shares, leaving it without voting power or management control over the bridge.
He said that arrangement was particularly concerning from a business perspective.
Campbell acknowledged that he did not have sufficient information to determine the full financial details of the arrangement.
“I know that the contract was coming to an end and I think my fellow MP Saiku Andrews has spoken on this before. It was coming to an end, so I do not know what the cash flows were, who and who have been repaid,” he said.
However, Campbell said his main concern was whether the NIS received adequate returns on its investment.
“But I will say, without the benefit of information, what has to be interrogated, I care little about the cronies, the crooked cronies, and some of them their ill-gotten gains have been so well laundered that nobody even looks at them anymore as being corrupt over the last 20, 25 years,” he said.
“But what I’m very concerned about is what are the returns to the NIS, if any, of the $400 million?”
On September 17, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo announced on his Facebook page that the Government of Guyana had acquired the Berbice River Bridge for $400 million—about five per cent of the original $8 billion construction cost.
The acquisition had been signalled months earlier. In March, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill told the National Assembly that the Government was finalising negotiations for the full acquisition of the bridge.
“…the Berbice Bridge and I don’t want to use this opportunity to make an announcement, I want to inform the House that the Government of Guyana is on its way to finalising all the I’s and crossing the T’s for the ownership of the Berbice River Bridge and based upon the figures I have been looking at, what it will be costing the Treasury for the acquisition of the bridge would be less than if we have to pay toll between now and next year, based upon the figures I’m looking at,” Edghill told the National Assembly.
In October 2022, President Irfaan Ali had announced plans for a new Berbice River Bridge and said the Government was discussing the possible acquisition of the existing bridge.
“We are in the process of discussing with the Berbice Bridge Corporation, the possible acquisition of that bridge by the government,” Ali said at the time.
The Government had also indicated that if the acquisition was not finalised by the time the new Demerara River Bridge became operational, the existing Berbice River Bridge crossing would become toll-free simultaneously.
The current Berbice River Bridge was constructed between 2006 and 2008 at a cost of approximately $8 billion. Its financing included loans and equity contributions from several entities, including the state-run National Insurance Scheme and private investors.
According to the ownership structure of the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI), National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd. (NICIL) holds 10 per cent, the NIS 20.2 per cent, Hand-in-Hand Fire Insurance 10 per cent, New GPC 20 per cent, Queens Atlantic Investment Inc. 20 per cent, and Secure International Finance Co. Limited 20 per cent.
The disclosure of the agreements and the financial records surrounding the bridge could therefore provide greater clarity on the original investment structure, the returns to the NIS and the basis on which the Government acquired the asset for $400 million.
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The NIS having the largest share (20.2%) made the total share for every one,
or entity 100.2 %.
This is the first time reading about a Company, Corporation formed with
not 100 % but, 100.2 % ?