GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – Guyana’s transport infrastructure sector will be further boosted through the Integrated Transport Corridors Project (ITCP) with a US$156 million loan agreement signed by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for finance Dr Ashni Singh and World Bank vice president, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, Susana Cordeiro Guerra.
The finance minister is currently in Washington attending the 2025 World Bank Group/IMF Annual Meeting taking place between October 13-18. The agreement was signed during an engagement on the margins of the annual meetings.
The project was approved earlier this year by the World Bank’s board of executive directors with the World Bank indicating that it is geared toward supporting Guyana in its quest to upgrade and rehabilitate the country’s road infrastructure, and will focus on enhancing the country’s transport network in selected regions in order to allow for better equipped infrastructure that could withstand natural hazards while providing safer and more reliable movement for persons.
Delivering remarks prior to the signing, the finance minister welcomed the World Bank’s engagement, noting that the ITCP project will make a tremendous contribution to the government’s ongoing efforts to expand and upgrade the country transport networks.
“This project has the potential to help unlock increased production and productivity in our non-oil economy, such as through farm to market roads which facilitate both production and trade, as well as to improve connectivity between communities,” Dr Singh underscored.
The ITCP aligns with Guyana’s national development goals to:
- Boost agricultural exports and food security by improving market access;
- Unlock housing and tourism potential by improving access to new development areas;
- Reduce traffic fatalities with improved road design and safety features;
- Enhance economic growth by facilitating efficient movement of goods and people;
- Improve access to social services such as health and education and;
- Improve climate resilience through dedicated infrastructure solutions.
The project is aligned with the commitment by the government to modernise Guyana’s infrastructure across the country as reflected in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) Manifesto objectives for the period 2025-2030. It is poised to generate significant economic and social returns as the country, under the president Irfaan Ali-led government, continues the path of rapid modernisation and economic expansion.
Over the last five years, the PPP/C government implemented the most transformative infrastructural development projects ever seen in the history of the country, and these have literally transformed the landscape of Guyana.
New transport networks, such as several bridges, roads and highways, are visible and being utilised, creating ease for road users, while others have been upgraded. The government, over the next five years, plans to continue rolling out its aggressive agenda to transform the country’s transport infrastructure with the dual aim of unlocking economic potential and improving the quality of life of all Guyanese.
As part of its infrastructural development agenda, government recently commissioned a new bridge across the Demerara River that links Regions 3 and 4, for which construction commenced during its first term in office.
Construction of another bridge across the Berbice River to link Regions 5 and 6 and cater for cargo trucks etc., will shortly commence as well, and this will further the administration’s plans of making Region 6 an industrial hub as well as connect Guyana to its neighbours Suriname and Brazil.
Major transport infrastructural plans which form part of the government’s 2025-2030 manifesto include continuing the upgrade of the Linden to Lethem highway and construction of bridges at Kurukupari and Puruni, completing the upgrade of the Linden to Soesdyke highway and four lane highway along the East Bank of Demerara to Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), completing the highway from Land of Canann to the Linden to Soesdyke highway, Silica City and the CJIA and construction of a bridge across the Corentyne River to link Guyana, with Suriname, and open up additional markets.
The Corentyne River Bridge is to be built in collaboration with Surinamese counterparts.
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