The Government of Guyana (GoG) has been successful in acquiring a funds from the Indian Government to procure a vessel that will operate the Georgetown/North-West route. Making this known today, was the Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, in the National Assembly as the House deliberates the estimates of the 2020 Emergency Budget.
“The T&HD provides a useful service. One of the things we want to do is to ensure that we have modernised ferries, which would mean reduced travel time, better fuel consumption and more comfort for passengers and goods,” he said.
He spoke about the visit made by former President Donald Ramotar to India back in 2014, and his success in securing a Line of Credit and a Soft Loan totalling US$18M from the Indian government to procure a ferry that would contain the aforementioned features. Edghill said that the Coalition had five years to put that project into effect, but never did.
Nevertheless, the Minister said that after 10 days of assuming office, the PPP/C government has already made significant steps to bring that project to fruition.
“I am happy to let the National Assembly know today, that that US$18M, that was lying there for five years, is now being utilised to bring a modern ferry to Guyana. We have resolved the issues,” he reported.
Additionally, he said that steps are being taken to ensure that the current fleet – though aged – remains in operation. Also, a desk review will be conducted into the maintenance of this fleet to determine if it was feasible to repair these vessels, or if procuring new ones was more cost-effective.
