IDB traffic education loan expired, official says

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) had approved funding for the traffic signal public education programme but because the procurement process took a long time, the loan had to be cancelled, a local IDB official has said.

While some IDB-funded projects could not be proceeded with because of the multilateral debt relief Guyana and other regional Heavily Indebted Poor Countries had obtained from the bank and other institutions, the traffic light education programme was not among them.

The cancellation of the education programme had produced different explanations from two senior government officials. Spokesman Dr Roger Luncheon had said that government had to give up a portion of IDB funding within a specific timeframe. “Therefore a number of projects for which we had already gotten loan approval had to be cut and I think that was one of them,” Luncheon had said.

Transport Minister Robeson Benn had later said that the project was no longer relevant and had expressed confidence that road users were well aware of the workings and operations of the signals. He had said too that there had already been a delay in the setting up of the lights and explained further that there was no intention to continue with the programme.

National Specialist – Engineering at the IDB, Christopher Persaud, in a recent telephone interview explained that it was untimely procurement that had caused the eventual cancellation of the loan; its life had ended because it was not utilised on time.

Persaud explained that under the bank’s old bridges rehabilitation programme, there had been a component for road safety dealing with road signs, road marking and reflectors, and the very nature of road safety would include some aspect of public awareness.

He said the bank had given its no objection for the use of funds, but procurement had not been completed on time. He further stated that because loans had a certain time period, if they were not utilised in the allotted time, they were cancelled at the end of the loan period. “