Feasibility study for int'l hwy expected to kick off in Q1

A US$1.12mn feasibility study for an international highway connecting Guyana with southwestern neighbor Brazil is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2007, according to a statement from Guyana's government information service GINA. The Guyana-Brazil highway will run from Guyana's capital Georgetown some 475km to the southwestern city of Lethem and then some 5km into Brazil, where it will end in that country's northeastern city Bonfin. If the feasibility study is approved by the Inter-American Development Bank, it will receive US$900,000 of bank funding and another US$225,000 from Guyana's national government. The highway will expand markets for Guyanese products, provide jobs and facilitate cultural exchanges between Guyana and Brazil, said Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo. The road would also cross an east-west transport network connecting it with Venezuela, Suriname and French Guiana, providing access to all of Guyana's neighbors. The government commissioned a feasibility study for the roads in 1989 with funding from the European Union and another feasibility study on the highway in 2000. It also commissioned an environmental impact assessment in 1994, according to the statement.