Developing our Islands – Hog Island

HOG ISLAND

The GPP has discussed the development of Hog Island on many occasions. We can develop our own Barbados in Guyana. Imagine an island that can house thousands of Guyanese who may want to return to a more secure environment.

Imagine the deep water harbour ports that can be a shipbuilding yard with a deep water harbour. How many of us may want to move to Hog Island instead of Barbados if we put in the right modern infrastructure.

The Hog Island Deep Water Harbour will function as an Export Processing Zone where domestic taxes and other obligations are minimized, thus encouraging private investment in small, medium and large enterprises.

Tourism can benefit from such a move. We have over 300 islands in our country and most of them are larger than most Caribbean Islands we associate with and are sometimes ejected from.

Although that project is critical for the longer-term vision for our country, expanding the current river port in Georgetown to accommodate larger vessels can be a cheaper alternative. The expansion of the port can start at the tip of the Demerara River and go out into the Atlantic Ocean as the picture below depicts. A cost of such a port is about US$32 million.

This picture is The Chittagong Port in Bangladesh built from September 2005 – December 2007 by China Harbour Engineering.  The French engineer who worked on that project and is currently in Guyana, believes a port similar to this one is possible in Georgetown and recommends a feasibility study be done. The wharf is 1,000 metres long and 40 metres wide.

A good example over the last five years that has some interest given Guyana’s limited forays into the cruise ship trade is that of the Galveston, Texas P3. To meet the growing demand for cruise ship capacity and to rapidly capitalize on the economic benefits to the local and state economy and tax base – the Port of Galveston formed a P3 with Royal Caribbean, Carnival and CH2M HILL in 2002 to expand cruise ship service and facilities. The P3 involved starting a “third party” legal entity to hold cruise line contracts and the lease with the Port. The private sector provided up-front investment in exchange for commercial terms regarding return on its investment. The public sector conserved its capital funds, while receiving increased revenues from growth in related employment and business revenues.

The success of the Galveston P3 has helped the Port continue its phenomenal growth, accrue benefits to the local and state economy, and take a leadership position in the cruise industry. Developing a similar P3 project can see our Georgetown Port develop to international standards with amenities such as a “Boardwalk” featuring restaurants and stores.