Jagdeo queries land, tolls for new Demerara River Bridge

With Government announcing that construction of the new Demerara Harbour Bridge will begin next year, several concerns need to be urgently addressed and more specifically as it relates to funding and land acquisition, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said. “There are questions to answered and publicly… will there be subsidy to cushion the tolls, what will be the tolls, what about supporting infrastructure, guarantee for debt?” Jagdeo questioned. Comparing the presentations by the Dutch company Lievense CSO Consultants, which carried out the feasibility study and design for the new bridge, Jagdeo produced a dossier of information on the Berbice Bridge as he underlined his argument that more information is needed on the project before the government goes ahead.

“The government needs to tell us now how much money they would put into this project and where it would come from,” Jagdeo said as he noted that estimates for the project are between US$150- US$180 million. The Opposition Leader also questioned the circumstances surrounding the choice of the location, Houston to Versailles, while alleging that former People’s National Congress Reform executive and businessman, Stanley Ming owns most of the land on the West Bank of Demerara that government will have to purchase. Asked if he had evidence that Ming was the owner of the property to be bought by government Jagdeo answered in the affirmative.