The existing floating Demerara Bridge built forty years ago has outlived its technical and economic life. It is therefore to the credit of Guyanese engineering and probably more to the point, ingenuity, that it continues to operate. The decision to build a replacement before catastrophe strikes is therefore welcome. The proposed replacement is likely to constitute the single largest investment by the APNU+AFC Government. A decision on this Bridge will test the soundness of the Government’s judgment, challenge the country’s procurement system, test its understanding and competence of evaluating, financing and undertaking of major projects and reveal its commitment to consultation, transparency and accountability. The signs are not encouraging.
Budget 2017 had no provision for the proposed Bridge while Budget 2018 and Volume 3 – Project Description has a provision of $5 million. Surprisingly for the largest infrastructural investment of this Administration, the Minister devoted little of his 84-page Speech to the Bridge and it does seem that necessary as it is, there is no sense at this stage of where the money will come from.
It appears that the Government has accepted the recommendations of a Study, carried out by a Dutch firm, but
