New Harbour Bridge not 21st century – Chinese Ambassador

The Chinese Government says it stands ready to invest in the development of Guyana, citing infrastructure as key, but the Chinese Ambassador is not impressed with projects like the new Demerara Harbour Bridge.

“I am really concerned about the Demerara Bridge,” Ambassador Cui Jianchun said at a lecture hosted by the University of Guyana on Tuesday night.

The Ambassador said he has had a frank discussion with Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson.

“If we still are building floating bridge this is not 21^st century,” he stated.

The Ambassador urged the audience to go to YouTube and look at the 55 kilometre Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge, which was described by the Xinhua news agency as the world’s longest cross-sea bridge.

It consists of a series of three cable-stayed bridges and one undersea tunnel, as well as 3 artificial islands, spanning the Lingdingyang channel, that connects Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai, three major cities on the Pearl River Delta in China.

The Ambassador said as part of his strategy for a new era of Guyana/China relations, infrastructural development is key. As such, he said he will examine President David Granger’s dream of building a paved highway from Linden to Lethem.

“Guyana is on the Chinese list; that means China could provide more assistance to the Guyanese government and society,” he stated.

Speaking of trade and investment, he said the local private sector should invest more in the development of Guyana and he noted that his strategy for a new era of cooperation between Guyana and China is to have more Chinese businesses spend their money here.

In 1972, Guyana became was the first English-speaking Caribbean nation to establish diplomatic relations with China.