Guyana, Suriname finalising arrangements for Corentyne River bridge

Last Updated on Monday, 10 January 2022, 21:52 by Denis Chabrol

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill on Monday announced that he and his Surinamese counterpart would this week hold talks  about the selection of the final bidder to construct the Corentyne River Bridge that would link both South American nations.

He told a news conference that bids for the studies, design and preparation were being evaluated by Guyana’s National Procurement and Tender Admin as that bridge was “high on the agenda” of the governments of both countries.

Already, a decision has been made to construct the bridge under a design, build, finance model in a public-private-partnership. He said incentives would be given by the Guyanese and Surinamese governments to the preferred bidder.

A number of small opposition parties in Suriname have called on the Chandrikapersad Santokhi administration to halt plans to build the Corentyne River Bridge until the border dispute over the New River Triangle is resolved.

Mr. Santokhi and his Guyanese counterpart, Irfaan Ali, have brushed off questions about the border issue whenever it is raised.

Guyana and Suriname have also been discussing the use of natural gas from offshore oil production to power a bauxite processing plant as well as link up with Brazil in through the Arco Norte natural gas electricity generation plant.