Crossing the Berbice Bridge will become cheaper; new fixed high-span bridge planned- Pres Ali

Last Updated on Sunday, 7 January 2024, 15:11 by Denis Chabrol

President Irfaan Ali on Sunday announced that plans are afoot to reduce the cost for crossing the Berbice River Bridge, even as government was eyeing the construction of a fixed bridge across that waterway in eastern Guyana.

He did not provide any detail, about how that would be done but said government would be holding talks with the privately-owned Berbice Bridge Company Inc. “We are in the process at the policy level of formulating a plan to work with the investors in the Berbice Bridge to have the government play a greater role because we have to carry the maintenance cost and all of this is aimed to make it much easier and cheaper for you cross the Berbice Bridge,” he said.

Dr Ali did not give a time frame but said the plan would be put in place at “very soon”.  Among the investors in the Demerara Harbour Bridge is the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), Guyana’s social security entity.

Back in 2019, the High Court had upheld a decision by the then coalition administration to take control of the Berbice Bridge after the Bridge Company had planned to increase tolls by 360 percent.

In his address at the sod-turning for the new New Amsterdam Hospital, the Guyanese leader also announced that his administration would be constructing a new bridge across the Berbice River. “We are accelerating the plans for a fixed high-crossing bridge across the Berbice River just like the one we are building across the Demerara River,” he said.

Meanwhile, he restated that Guyana and Suriname were in the “final process of signing” the construction of the Corentyne River which borders the two countries.