Few Chinese contractors operating in Guyana- Jagdeo

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 May 2025, 22:41 by Writer

Guyana has very few Chinese contractors executing publicly funded projects, but Chinese have been subcontracted by several privately owned Guyanese companies to operate quarries, according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.

“This is a fallacy about the Chinese taking over, but many of them are buying the sand, operating the trucks, etc, but the Guyanese have the permits,” he said.

Mr Jagdeo said Chinese companies had been contracted to construct a mere 10 percent of the Heroes Highway and were currently expanding and rehabilitating a section of the East Bank Demerara Public Road from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport to Providence. That project is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.

He said none of the 40 contractors in a housing programme on the East Coast or the 20 to 30 at Wales included Chinese contractors.

“They are all Guyanese people and they need sand and stone and everything to do this so where are the Chinese contractors working?” he asked.

The United States (U.S.) government is increasingly concerned about the rising presence and influence of China in Latin America and the Caribbean especially in politics, business and technology.

Big Chinese companies are being contracted by the Guyana government for mega projects such as the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, proposed Berbice and Corentyne River bridges as well as a section of the electricity transmission-distribution upgrade.

The U.S. has been particularly keeping an eye on Guyana and Brazil.

Outgoing Suriname President, Chandrikapersad Santokhi had said during U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Paramaribo earlier this year that U.S. companies were not bidding for contracts.

In the private sector, the Vice President observed that the Chinese workers have been delivering fast-paced and low-cost construction projects. “A lot of things that are happening now, they contract because the Chinese may be able to do it faster and, in some cases, cheaper,” he said.

Amid concerns by truckers earlier this month that they were not being allowed to transport sand and stone since Chinese have taken over a quarry, Mr Jagdeo made it clear that none of the 16 quarries that had increased production from 740,000 tonnes in 2020 to 3.3 million tonnes in 2024 was owned by Chinese. “All of the others were given to Guyanese and contracted Chinese companies to operate them,” he said.

He said the increased number of quarries helped government to achieve its objective of reducing the cost of stone from GY$18,000 per tonne to GY$8,200 per tonne due to increased supply and competition. “The profit margins have come down both for truckers and the people who own the quarries,” he said. “The people of this country and the public works that we are doing are benefiting from this,” he said.

Similarly, he said no f0reigner was among the 49 new permit holders for sand mining. Currently there are 67 sand miners who produce more than 12 million tonnes of that construction material compared to 700,000 tonnes in 2020 by 18 operators.

Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill recently met with the truckers who had publicly protested a loss of income. “They are our people and we have to find a way of assisting them,” he said.