APNU+AFC’s Patterson promises public bus system, light railway; improvements to Georgetown, Linden, New Amsterdam

Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 January 2025, 18:29 by Writer

A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Shadow Public Works Minister, David Patterson on Wednesday said if the coalition wins this year’s general and regional elections, that administration would reintroduce a public bus service and construct a light railway.

“We will construct a new transportation network, introduce a state-of-the-art state-run bus service with scheduled services linking major residential areas as well as subsidised transit for the elderly, school children and essential public sectoral employees,” he told the National Assembly during the 2025 National Budget debate.

Mr Patterson said the coalition also intends to construct the Guyana orbital highway, a ring-road network to link Linden, Parika, Georgetown and Berbice as well as a “light rail system similar to the London orbital network.”

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the then Guyana government had scrapped the coastal railway and government-owned public bus systems.

He said the proposed bus and rail transport means would form part of an “ambitious” Integrated Urban Development and Urbanisation Plan that would target the entire structure of urban and regional areas. “The overall strategy of the plan will coordinate mega projects through a structured inclusive approach, encompassing strategies, principles, policy directions and initiatives regardless of their size and scope and impact on the structural space,” he said. He indicated that all plans would be subjected to consultations and rigorous feasibility studies to guide final decisions.

Mr Patterson said that, in collaboration with the Georgetown City Council, a coalition administration would upgrade the drainage system, redevelop and upgrade recreation areas, improve waste management through waste-to-energy conversion, enhance traffic management and construct multi-storey car parks.

In Linden, Mr Patterson set his eyes on the creation of a major economic and commercial hub in collaboration with the Linden Town Council. That project, he envisaged, would include the creation of a free zone, a transportation hub along the Linden-Lethem Highway, a deep-water port for containerised cargo and new roads for the timber and logging industries.

The APNU+AFC parliamentary representative also announced that a coalition-led administration would upgrade and expand internal roads in New Amsterdam. Also, he said that town would see the construction of new wharves to serve the Berbice River, a new cargo and passenger ferry.

Georgetown, Linden and New Amsterdam are considered traditional political strongholds of the People’s National Congress Reform.