…Chinese firm to conduct study
Guyana moved a step closer to realising its long-held dream of building a deepwater harbour, with a preliminary study on the Berbice River estuary slated to start later this month.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds
The Chinese State Construction Engineering Company (Latin American and Caribbean) will be in Guyana as of March 23 to conduct the study on the possibilities of constructing a deepwater harbour near the river mouth.
The study is a follow-up on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered between the Government of Guyana and the company.
In a statement, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds noted that the study will be carried out for one week at the company’s expense and without any obligations on the part of the Government.
Further, the statement noted that the Government was welcoming other offers to carry out and present preliminary studies of deepwater harbours in Guyana, noting that the deepwater harbour is a desired economic developmental opportunity for businesses.
The Chief Representative of the Chinese company, Zhile David Zhang, will be accompanied by a technical team to carry out the study.
Incidentally, if a deepwater port on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer basis (BOOT) was to appear feasible, the Government would then proceed by way of an open invitation for proposals.
In 2013, the Inter-American Development Bank had approved a grant of US$1.5 million to fund studies required to prepare a deepwater port project and a road link to Brazil.
The money was intended to cover the necessary market, engineering, environmental, social and financial studies required to prepare the road link and deep-water port project for eventual financing through a public/private partnership.
President Donald Ramotar has promised, once re-elected as President, to make the deepwater harbour by the Corentyne River a reality.
Two deepwater ports?
With the possibility of another in the Berbice River, it is unclear how those two major projects will impact each other.
PM Hinds noted that in the mid-1990s, the Aroaima operations of Reynolds Bauxite Company had constructed a Deepwater shipping facility in the mouth of the Berbice River, which could have been the first step towards a traditional PANAMAX (65,000-ton) sized port.
The statement went on to highlight that there have been a number of interests in a deepwater port in Guyana.
“A number of preliminary studies/proposals were put to Government by Boskalis, a team sent by the Government of India and Oldendorff (the Germany-based shipping and barging company contracted to the Berbice bauxite operations – BCGI/RUSAL),” the release read.
It also pointed out that during recent visits of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Caricom and the subsequent BRICS meeting in Brazil, there were announcements that China had committed large funds for infrastructure development in the Caribbean, Central and South American area. Consequently, Chinese firms, aware of this financing and always on the search for new business opportunities, have been proposing to be partners in such developmental projects.