Gov't to reopen controversial Del Conte road project- Ramotar

President Donald Ramotar Saturday night- Independence Eve- announced that government would be re-opening the a 50-year old road project between Parika and communities close to Bartica.

“I also wish to announce that we are keenly examining the possibility of reopening the Del Conte trail via a road link between Parika and communities close to Bartica,” he said in his Independence Day address at the National Park to mark Guyana's 47th Independence Anniversary.

The Guyanese leader hoped that the road would open up thousands of acres of new lands for agricultural cultivation.

Farmers, he said, would increase food production and secure greater economic opportunities, while providing a much needed road link to areas formerly only accessible by river.

The President said the Del Conte trail is one of two possible “new agricultural frontiers” that government was examining. The other is the Santa Fe rice and soya bean project in the Rupununi being run by the Barbadian family, Simpsons.

The Del Conte project, was named after a Venezuelan company, was never completed after thousands of dollars were spent by the then Cheddi Jagan administration in the 1960s.

The Peoples National Congress (PNC), while in and out of government, had frequently singled out the Del Conte project as an example of a waste of taxpayers’ money.