Asked about the status of the proposed project, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon said at his weekly news conference on Wednesday that sourcing of public/private funding remains the major difficulty in getting it started.

"The issue of course has been, and continues to be, financing. Public/private...financing (for) the bridge has been a stumbling block...as the financial players, examining the stream of revenue (and) the risks of the investment, remain a bit indecisive...", he said.

Luncheon reported that discussions are ongoing to illustrate the merits of the Government's proposal and financial regime/package to attract an investor.

The construction of the bridge should have begun last year, but the firm Ballast Nedham International (BNI), a Dutch construction company which won the bid for the project, withdrew.

The company said it was restructuring its operations because of financial losses incurred in 2001, and as such it was withdrawing from several projects internationally, including the Berbice River Bridge.

The pre-feasibility study for the project was funded by the Indian Government.

Luncheon also announced that bridges between Mahaica and Rosignol are to be reconstructed to make them more modern and durable.

He reported that Cabinet has approved a contract for consultancy services for this project amounting to US$1.7M.

"The Mahaica/Rosignol bridges project sees a large number of bridges between those two areas being replaced by more modern and more durable structures," Luncheon said.

He explained that it is part of a project to replace bridges generally from Timehri to Rosignol. An earlier phase has already seen the bridges up to the Demerara Harbour Bridge being redone and reinforced.