Following fruitful negotiations with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Government of Guyana yesterday secured two loans to finance substantial catalytic transformational projects for the country.
These project are: the construction of 121 kilometres of road between Linden and Mabura in Region Ten, as well as a Hospitality and Tourism Training Institute to facilitate training of persons to supply some of the demand required in the country’s Tourism and Hospitality sector.
The US$ 190 M Linden to Mabura Road project comprises a US$112-million loan from the CDB, a grant of £50 million (US$66 million) from the Government of the United Kingdom via the CDB-administered United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Fund, along with US$12 million provided by Government.
It is also the largest single project ever financed by the CDB and marks its largest geographic ‘footprint’.
Finance Minister, Ashni Singh expressed gratitude to the CDB as well as the UK Government, especially acknowledging the importance of the UK Government’s grant and the country’s support of Guyana’s development.
With Guyana increasingly becoming a hub for international visitors in light of the country’s new status of being a major oil producer and exporter, the Irfaan Ali administration has been placing focus on other productive sectors to ensure they receive the necessary financial support to be able to build capacity in order to accommodate the large influx of visitors and foreign investors.
Against this backdrop, assistance in the Tourism and Hospitality sector became critical, thus the focus on construction of the US $11.6 M Hospitality and Tourism Training Institute to allow for international training. The Institute is slated to be constructed at Providence behind the Guyana National Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Linden to Mabura Road forms part of the wider development of the Georgetown to Lethem corridor and is estimated to provide direct employment in both the short and long term as well as advance sustainable livelihoods of small and medium enterprises.
It should also improve connectivity and contribute to enhanced trade as well as ground transportation between Guyana and Brazil. The road is expected to be upgraded from a fair-weather road to an all-weather asphalt concrete one.
It will include new drainage infrastructure with enhanced capacity to mitigate the effects of flooding. Both projects had been conceptualized under the PPP/C Government prior to 2015 and had been in the pipeline since.
