Heavy-duty road, hydropower among projects discussed by Brazil team
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
August 27, 2002
Ambitious Guyana/Brazil projects including a heavy-duty road and a hydropower facility were discussed during the recent visit by a team from the neighbouring country and it is hoped that the schemes could be in place by 2007.
The ventures, including the construction of the Turtruba hydro-electric project in the Mazaruni, are expected to further trade and commerce between the two countries and the international community.
At present negotiations for the construction of the Turtruba project, scheduled to get underway next year, are being conducted with a Trinidadian company, Enman Services Ltd.
Details on the infrastructural projects were disclosed by Director of Business Development at the Investe Brasil Agency, Dr Eduardo Ferreira in his presentation on `The Investment Opportunities in the Brazil-Guyana Axis' last Tuesday, day one of a two-day seminar titled `Doing Business with Brazil' at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel.
These projects, to be undertaken through private and public sector initiatives, will include the development of a US multi-million dollar industrial centre in Boa Vista; the development of a US$300 million heavy-duty traffic road from Boa Vista to Georgetown; the development of a hydro-electric power plant at Turtruba in the lower Mazaruni in Guyana to service the industrial centre in Boa Vista and Guyana; and a US$120 million deep water harbour in Guyana.
Commenting on the proposed projects Private Sector Commission chairman, Peter De Groot noted that the possibilities to be gained will give the local private sector greater access to the international community. Noting that some of the projects are to be spearheaded by private enterprises and others would be self-financing, he pointed out that it shows what can be done by private sector development.
De Groot sees the Brazilian private sector doing business in Guyana and Guyanese doing business in Brazil as a tremendous opportunity, not only for the individual countries but the region as a whole.
According to Ferreira, the major objective of the development programme is to position Guyana and Brazil to play a much larger role in the international environment.
Much of the investments in the development of the industrial centre will be done by international private sector investment, including Japanese and American investment. This will include a soya plant (a Japanese investment), meat processing plant, the establishment of an alumina and smelting plant (ALCOA - an American investment) and a tannery, among others.
The international road and the port, he said, will be done through international collaboration in which the private sector would be required to shell out about US$0.5 billion to pay for them.
The guarantee for this project, he noted, has to be the constant heavy traffic on this road and the port for them to generate revenue to pay for their construction and maintenance.
To this end the government of the State of Roraima along with the private sector have taken the decision to create the industrial centre in Boa Vista, which has an abundance of natural resources. Work on some of the projects are due to commence by year-end and early next year with the projection that some will be completed by the year 2006 and 2007.
This is in keeping with projections that the international road, port and the Turtruba project will be completed by the year 2006 and 2007 to facilitate traffic and the provision of energy.
At present the Venezuela-based Guri Dam provides some 200 megawatts of power to Boa Vista, Ferreira observed, and the creation of the industrial centre will require some 600 megawatts by the year 2007. It is projected that the Turtruba hydro power plant will provide an additional 600 megawatts to service Boa Vista and other parts of Brazil.
There is a possibility too, Ferreira said, that the power could be transmitted to Manaus which at present depends on oil for its energy.
Meanwhile, work on the extension of the Guri Dam to double its power supply is to start by the end of this year, he said, and it is projected that a deal currently being negotiated with a Trinidadian company for the Turtruba project will be in place early next year.
Other facilities to be in place will include transmission lines, improved telecommunication and the provision of a fibre optic link extending from Manaus through Guyana to the northern hemisphere which will be fundamental to the growth of the industries. While investing in the projects will be expensive undertakings, Ferreira said they will be self-sustaining and will generate enough traffic to pay for themselves.