Major India funded road, health projects stalled

The requirement of contractors out of India to complete projects funded by that country is posing a major problem for the Government of Guyana in relation to getting its work program going.

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan during a Press conference on Thursday (May 11, 2017), alluded to the $50M line of credit for the East Bank/East Coast Road linkage project which was signed over a year ago and still hasn’t progressed.

“Our problem that we are experiencing is that all of these projects have to have Indian contractors and consultants and we are experiencing grave problems…in getting these contractors onboard,” he told media operatives.

According to Jordan, one of the challenges is the recent change of the procurement process in India, which as reported by the Indian High Commissioner here, persons are still familiarising themselves. He added that the sums though huge for Guyana, it is not huge enough projects for the larger country.

Since its assumption to Office, the APNU+AFC Government was granted a total of 10 loans and eight grants from the Government of India. US$4 million was issued for drainage and irrigation pumps, US$10 million for a North West District ferry and US$17.5 million for the modernisation of the Suddie Regional Hospital, the West Demerara Regional Hospital and the Bartica District Hospital.

The Finance Minister says new approaches will have to be looked at to get the development projects running.