Takutu Bridge works restarted
By Mark Ramotar
Guyana Chronicle
April 15, 2007
CONSTRUCTION works have restarted on the long-awaited Takutu Bridge to link Guyana and Brazil by road and committed efforts are being made to ensure it is completed by the contractual March deadline next year.
Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Mr. Manniram Prashad said the Takutu Bridge, when completed, will create an historic link between the two neighbouring countries and will offer a multiplicity of opportunities for citizens of both Guyana and Brazil.
The Brazilians have now recommenced the bridge. I observe that a deck is now on the bridge (on the Brazilian side) and this must have been installed about two weeks ago”, he said Friday.
So I am happy to say we are seeing progress with the bridge,” he told reporters at the bridge site in Lethem from where scores of workmen were observed across the Takutu River working on the Brazil end of the bridge.
Construction on the bridge was halted a little over two years ago but an agreement was reached between the two governments to complete the bridge following a visit to Guyana by Brazil President Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva two years ago.
After a lengthy delay, the Brazilian Government awarded a US$5.3M contract to complete the construction of the bridge across the border Takutu River between Guyana and Brazil in the Rupununi. The contract has been awarded to the Brazilian firm, Arte Leste of Curitiba from the State of Parana.
The contract is being supervised by the 6th Engineers Battalion of the Brazilian Army, who will themselves carry out the approaches to the bridge.
Based on the design, the 14-metre wide bridge across the Takutu River will be built of reinforced concrete, supported on four piers. It will have pedestrian walkways on both sides.
The Takutu Bridge is one of 335 projects identified by the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), an initiative by South American governments to construct a new infrastructural network for the continent, including roads, waterways, ports, and energy and communications interconnections.
Prashad on Friday also reiterated the government’s commitment to seeing the paving of the road between Linden and Lethem (on the Georgetown/Lethem route), something which President Bharrat Jagdeo has been pushing for in recent years.
am happy to say that President Jagdeo has had bilateral discussions with (President Lula) during the Rio Summit and they spoke specifically on the pavement and the completion of the (Georgetown/Lethem) road,” Prashad said, adding that “this is very much on the cards”.
While acknowledging that the Brazilian Government is financing the construction of the bridge, Prashad said financing for the pavement of the Georgetown/Lethem road is still to be finalised.
The bridge, when completed, is expected to significantly increase trade between the two neighbours.
Nationals from Guyana and Brazil travel freely across the borders with limited immigration requirements.
According to Prashad, the future of Guyana is inextricably linked to the Rupununi region and that is why so much attention is being placed on the development corridor.
Prashad, who was accompanied by the former Tourism Minister and current Minister of Labour Mr. Manzoor Nadir to Lethem on Friday for the official launch of Digicel’s service in that area, also visited the site for the construction of the Lethem industrial estate in the Tabatinga area.
The area, where Digicel is building on the first plot, has been identified for the construction of a multi-purpose complex which will house Immigration, Customs, Police and Quarantine Offices to facilitate the movement of people across the border when the bridge is completed.