Brazil President to visit next week –Ali
-hydropower on the agenda
President Irfaan Ali on Monday announced that President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will soon visit Guyana.
According to President Ali, da Silva is expected to visit Guyana next week to engage in discussions which will include the potential of a “hydropower link” between the two countries.
Ali stated in his presentation at the opening of the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo at the Marriott Hotel, “With Brazil President Lula coming next week, we’re discussing even the integration of more hydro into northern Brazil and creating a transmission link for power to be distributed into northern Brazil.”
He noted that in “northern Brazil they import about 8 million tons of food-related imports and they export 13 million tons but guess what to move this to the port it takes them two weeks, two weeks” however, he said “coming through Guyana will take less than two days.”
“Our geographic position now places us on a competitive path to be the shipping logistics solution for northern Brazil and more importantly to make them more competitive and that justifies and add to the rate of return for the deep water port and that is what is linked in to supply chain and this is the direction we are going in”, he said.
Providing an Atlantic link to Brazil’s northern states has been spoken about here for many years.
According to Ali, a recent study revealed that from Lethem to New Amsterdam, Region Six, where the deep water port is foreseen, is a distance of 540 kilometers with a time of five hours and four minutes.
“You are talking about agriculture, it is perishable, it is getting to the market as quickly as possible because there is a value of getting to the market as freshly as possible, you are talking about a game changer here for northern Brazil, a game changer for Guyana, a game changer for transport and logistics”, he added.
Further with an expected production of more gas than needed here, Ali had also said that this is why his government is pushing to advance the building of the Corentyne River Bridge so that that market in Suriname becomes available in the first phase of the excess, “then of course we are now building out the road to northern Brazil, 122 kilometers of that road is under construction, 45 bridges, all of that investment we are already making so that that market becomes immediately available.”