Through the vast interior of Guyana, a historic red dirt road known as “The Trail” winds through rainforest, plains and hills, linking the capital Georgetown to Lethem in the south on the border with Brazil.
Now that nearly 500km link is being upgraded into a major highway, authorities in the South American country — which has the world’s largest oil reserves per capita — hope the project would help transform its economy.
They also hope it could help open up Essequibo, the disputed oil-rich region administered by Guyana for decades, but claimed by neighboring Venezuela.
Photo: AFP
The renovation is no small undertaking for Guyana, which went to the polls to elect new leaders on Monday. It would cost almost US$1 billion to build the four sections of highway and about 50 bridges. The most optimistic completion date is 2030.
So for the time being, truckers and others tackle The Trail, also called the Linden-Lethem road, as it is.
It takes 15 hours to make the journey end to end, and some do not succeed. One rusty truck appeared to have been abandoned on the side of the road for some time.
“It’s a very tough job,” said 27-year-old Ramdial Metleash, who was shirtless and dripping in sweat as he drove his logging truck.
Life on The Trail can be hard, Metleash said. In the rainy season, vehicles get stuck in mud. When it is dry, there are nasty dust clouds.
He has been working this route since he was 15, earning about 60,000 Guyana dollars (US$285) per trip — enough to take care of his sister and her son.
While the oil industry has not changed his bottom line, Metleash said the completion of the road would help, especially at spots such as Kurupukari, where a bridge would be built.
For now, trucks cross a river on a barge.
GAME CHANGER
Guyana Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill said that the finished highway would be “a game changer in terms of where Guyana is going.”
“This road will connect us with the Takutu Bridge, which carries you into northern Brazil. That’s a market of 20 million people,” Edghill said.
That is more than 20 times English-speaking Guyana’s population of more than 800,000.
The route would also link to the Palmyra deepwater port, now under construction and located not far from the border with Suriname, he added.
Brazilians need to travel “21 days down the Amazon to get goods to water for shipping,” but with the new road, that could be whittled down to 48 hours, Edghill said.
The road could also easily be used to move troops and military equipment through the country and into Essequibo, which has valuable mineral deposits.
That region has long been neglected by the government in Georgetown, as Caracas has pressed its claims over the territory.
“Essequibo is part of Guyana,” Edghill said. “It’s the home of our indigenous brothers and sisters. Essequibo is also the home for all the large-scale mines, the home of our major forestry activity.”
The new highway would allow more people to travel for work without leaving their families for months at a time, he said, adding: “It’s a great opportunity.”
‘CAN’T FIGHT PROGRESS’
Michelle Fredericks, 53, owns a popular snack stall near the barge dock in Kurupukari.
The bridge would pass directly over where her business currently stands. It would be relocated, but would no longer receive the same heavy foot traffic as it does now.
Fredericks is nevertheless sanguine about the future.
“I can’t just only think about this business here,” she said. “A lot of development is going to happen.”
Fredericks said she plans to shift her focus to tourists. She already welcomes local and foreign tourists who want to go fishing or for hikes in the rainforest.
She also expects the number of weekend visitors to increase once the new road cuts the drive time from Georgetown in half to about four hours.
“You can’t fight progress. That’s life,” Fredericks said.
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