A Berbice bridge come what may
-declares Jagdeo
Stabroek News
December 29, 2003
President Bharrat Jagdeo says a bridge, be it a floating or a fixed structure, will be built across the Berbice river and work will begin on it next year.
He made this announcement during an interview with little Rock Television Station, Channel 10 in New Amster-dam on Christmas Eve as part of a two-day visit to East Berbice. "I am going to do a lot to get the project going and will start in the New Year. We will get it going in the New Year even if we have to dispose of some government assets and shareholding in several companies to fund the project. It is going to happen," he declared. Jagdeo is hoping that the government will be able to access the US$11M from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) bridges Project to build the road approaches to the proposed crossing. "If we can get a floating structure below US$20M we may be able to go with that. If it is above that and the fixed structure is around US$40M then it will make sense to go with the fixed structure because of its durability," he explained, saying, "it is going to happen in the New Year."
Meanwhile Jagdeo was asked to comment on a statement made by PNCR Leader Robert Corbin that he was still not satisfied with the rate of progress in the implementation of agreements made under the dialogue process: "Maybe Mr Corbin is pandering to pressure groups within his party which are dissatisfied about some of the concessions. But instead of bending to such pressure and engaging in public rhetoric, he should be exhibiting the required leadership and say to his party I am agreeing to these changes because it is good for the country." Jagdeo noted that 70 per cent of the agreements have been implemented while the remainder is in progress. "I suspected Mr Corbin is responding to pressure from his party...I will, however, not engage in rhetoric since it is a waste of time. I want to remain positive and look forward to a good working relationship with Mr Corbin... Overall we did well in 2003; we managed to keep inflation down and met our budgetary targets while a lot of infrastructure work was completed. However we still have corruption among government employees, some of them do not work and do not understand that they are there to serve the people. I wish that some people would pay more attention to their sectors including ministers who should go out more in the field to obtain accurate reports. I am still disappointed about some of the false reports from some field officers who say things are okay when in fact they are not." (Daniel Da Costa)