Work on Takutu bridge likely to restart near year end
-Ambassador Dieguez
by Andrew Richards
Stabroek News
August 4, 2002
The recommencement of work on the Takutu River bridge on the Guyana-Brazil border seems likely to be close to the end of the year, Brazil's ambassador to Guyana, Ney do Prado Dieguez, has stated.
Meanwhile, preparations for the construction of the access road and establishment of a port facility on the Guyana side of the border have been halted, informed sources have said.
The environmental impact assessment (EIA) which was being conducted on the access road and port facility has been suspended by government.
Chairperson of the national coordinating committee of the project, Clement Rohee, Minister of Foreign Trade, could not be contacted yesterday.
Chairman of Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), Vincent Henry, said he has not received any official information that the work had stopped but indicated that there were murmurings circulating of a suspension in the work on the Guyana side of the border.
Sources said that the consultant who was to examine the social aspect of the EIA had been informed that no money was available when he was supposed to travel to Lethem to begin work.
The Brazilian ambassador disclosed that the audit carried out by his country's Accounting Tribunal on the Takutu River bridge project had been completed.
He said the Tribunal set certain requirements to be followed before construction of the bridge could be restarted.
He was not sure of what was required but stated that the Tribunal had found that one tender was issued for the Takutu project and another bridge to be built on Brazilian territory as a single package. This was in contravention of Brazil's regulations, he said, and this may be one of the issues which has to be addressed.
"This was definitely one of the problems. I'm not sure how it would be resolved. The funds [to build the bridge] exist and they are allocated already. As soon as the requirements are met, the funds would be liberated," Dieguez said.
He added that until the requirements are fulfilled there would be no possibility of a recommencement of construction.
The ambassador said he was in Brazil recently and from his visit it was his understanding that the requirements would be met by September "so by the end of the year they will restart."
The Region Nine chairman told Stabroek News yesterday that he had attended the last meeting of the national coordinating committee held in June and all assurances had been given that works on the port facility would be done as a matter of urgency.
He said it was pointed out that, given the temporary halt to the construction of the bridge, the opportunity should be taken to "put our house in order" and install the necessary facilities.
"The Brazilians are far ahead of us," Henry said, speaking about the port facilities on the other side of the border. "We ought to have gone through with the works if we're serious about development and the Brazilians have already given us their commitment to the bridge project."
The regional chairman said the leaders in the region would soon be embarking on consultations about the establishment of the port facility and the access road.
He recalled they were caught napping when the construction of the bridge over the Takutu River started and this time they wanted to be prepared "so as to ensure the negative aspects of the project do not overrun us."
The port facility is supposed to house various government agencies to provide security and control of movement of people, goods and animals across the Takutu river bridge.
The bridge, when completed, will be reinforced concrete supported on four piers.
It will be 14 metres wide and will include pedestrian walkways on either side.
It will be necessary to have an approach ramp on the Guyana side of approximately 100 metres long sloping down from the bridge.
The port facility will comprise a multi-purpose building, a Guyana Defence Force outpost, truck scales, drive-through baths for personnel in order to provide for control of foot and mouth disease, truck parking, and housing for personnel who will man the facility.
The total cost for the works was estimated at $75.5M.
The access road to the Takutu river bridge is part of the development of the infrastructure to support the road link with the state of Roraima in Brazil, and Georgetown, Guyana's capital. The access road will include the changeover lanes to accommodate right-hand driving across the bridge and left-hand driving in Guyana.
The bridge was expected to have been completed in August.
The works on the Guyana side were expected to have already commenced so that the access road would have been completed in time for the bridge commissioning which was scheduled for early October. All of this has now been put back.