Guyana has long been eyed as the gateway for countries in Latin America largely because of its ready access to the Atlantic Ocean and the shipping lines. Brazil, in particular, with its large production line, would find it cheaper to truck its exports across Guyana and to the Atlantic Ocean .
Being a neighbouring country, that South American country has long recognised the need to use Guyana 's ports. For more than five decades there has been talk about the necessary road link but until now that link never materialised.
There was the proposal that Ford Motor Company build the road but that proposal had a hitch. The makers of the road had decreed that only Ford Motors traverse it. The proposal never saw the light of day.
But there have been trails linking the coast and the southernmost part of the country for as long as one could remember. One particularly vibrant trail was known as the Rupununi cattle trail along which cattle were transported.
Today, there is a renewed effort at having the road become a reality. For its part, Brazil has paved roads all the way to the Guyana border. The road on this side is little more than a track that becomes all but impassable during periods of heavy rainfall.
However, this track affords the movement of goods from the capital to Lethem and consequently to the border communities in Brazil . A report in these pages indicates that the Brazilians find the goods on this side much cheaper. This alone indicates that Guyanese importers have a market other than the locals and should see many spin off benefits to the good of the country.
The greater the volume of imports, the greater the revenue to the treasury; the greater the market, the greater the earning capacity of the importer.
Already there are countries within the Caribbean Community that want to use Guyana to access markets on the South American mainland. Ansa McAl, the manufacturer of Carib Beer, recognises the importance and volume of the Brazilian market to the extent that it made an effort to acquire the local beverage giant, Banks DIH.
But Brazil also has a large volume of goods that Guyana currently seeks from other external sources. The shipping costs alone send the price of the import so much higher. The road could see cheaper goods entering this country.
There are other benefits. At present the Brazilians are moving north, drawn by the Guyana goldfields and investment opportunities. They abound in the hinterland communities and their numbers are growing each day in the capital.
They bring with them skills previously unknown in Guyana . These skills are most noticeable in the goldfields. Because of the Brazilians Guyana's gold and diamond production has skyrocketed. This has been so noticeable that the then Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines, Robeson Benn was forced to publicly admit that had it not been for the Brazilians not only would the exercise have been more labour intensive but the rate of recovery of the precious mineral would have been less.
The road to Brazil could also see the southward movement of Guyanese. It is common knowledge that people follow roads. Settlements would spring up and this would not be a particularly bad thing given the threat of global warming and the likely disappearance of a sizeable portion of the coastal belt.
But of greater importance to Guyana would be the revenue that the road would bring. Surely the countries seeking to use the ports would have to pay; the trucks using the road would have to pay toll and the list goes on.
Guyana is currently cash-strapped but this need not be the case once there is that link to help this country realize its continental destiny. For as long as we have been in existence we have seen ourselves as Caribbean people because of our common history of slavery and indentureship and language. But the reality is something else.
The south beckons and the faster we move to facilitate the creation of the road link and enhance our economic fortunes, the better.
With the road will come certain negative aspects of life but in the long run the benefits would outweigh the negatives.