Transport in Guyana

Public transport around Guyana's capital Georgetown is provided by privately owned mini buses which operate in allocated zones for which there is a well-regulated fare structure.

Starting in 2010, all taxis must be painted yellow, a regulation designed to protect consumers and to distinguish the vehicles from others that are often used in committing crimes.

There are scores of taxi services operating in Georgetown but its equally easy to "flag a ride" in the central business district.

The network of routes has a number of identifiable starting points which are concentrated in the Stabroek area and along the Avenue of the Republic between Croal and Robb Streets.

There is in addition a hinterland east–west main road system that extends from Kwakwani in the east, through Ituni, Linden, Rockstone, Sherima to Bartica in the west.

While travel to Brazil is via the old cattle trail it has been upgraded into a fair weather track that passes through the bauxite-producing town of Linden and ending at Lethem.

It is primarily a low-level bridge which possesses an elevated span with a vertical clearance of 7.9 m (26 ft) in the middle of the river to permit small craft to pass.

At present the toll revenue does not meet the operational and maintenance costs of the bridge; the government of Guyana provides considerable subsidy for its upkeep.

The bridge was officially opened on September 14, 2009, enabling economic interests in northern Brazil to link by road to the port at Georgetown.

Moreover, with the widespread decentralization of economic activity that is being proposed by the government, and with the corresponding development of the interior regions of the country, the demand for water transport might, perhaps paradoxically, increase rather than diminish.

In addition to the wharves and stellings that provide coastal and inland linkages, there are facilities that handle both the country's overseas and local shipping requirements.

The main port of Georgetown, located at the mouth of the Demerara River, comprises several wharves, most of which are privately owned.

The Government's Transport an hid Harbour Department provides scheduled ferry services in the Essequibo and Demerara rivers.

Since the opening of the Berbice River Bridge in December 2008 the Transport and Harbour Department has reduced its service to only one round trip daily between Rosignol and New Amsterdam.

This service is primarily geared at offsetting the high cost for crossing the Berbice Bridge for school children, public servants and the elderly.

Thus, the economic and social well-being of these areas and their integration into the fabric of the nation are critically dependent on the availability of air transport.

The first airplane flight took place in Guyana in March 1913 when George Schmidt, a German, flew a machine over Georgetown, taking off from the Bel Air Park Race Course.

The famous American flier, Colonel Charles Lindbergh, arrived in the Demerara River with his flying boat (an amphibian craft) on September 22, 1929.

Although air transport in Guyana had its beginnings in the 1920s when the first "bush" services were introduced, Government's earnest participation can be dated from 1947 when a Director of Civil Aviation was appointed to regulate the industry.

The development of air transport in Guyana owes much to Arthur "Art" James Williams, a pilot and mechanic from the United States.

Over this period, except for the war years, during which he served with the United States Air Force, he developed British Guiana Airways Ltd. (registered 27 May 1938) and operating regular internal services since 1939.

Guyana Airways Corporation was therefore obliged to fill the breach by commencing jet operations to Miami and New York in the US and Toronto, Ontario in Canada.

In anticipation of increased regional air traffic to the facility, an EU-subsidized construction project began in January of that year, intended to upgrade the terminal building and extend the primary paved runway to a usable length of 4000 feet.

Ogle is the hub for domestic flights to Guyana's interior and offers once-daily service to the in-town airstrip in Paramaribo, capital of neighboring Suriname.

Second, it inhibits the capacity to fully utilise those natural resources (gold, timber, diamonds, soils suitable for agriculture) that are not located on the coastland.

Fifth, it restricts the coastal population's penetration of the interior, and forces coastlanders to live in a cramped and crowded manner on the coast, struggling and competing for land-space and other amenities, while more suitable areas are available farther south.

And sixth, failure to occupy the greater part of the country, might tend to bolster some of the claims of Guyana's neighbours to its territory.

The government of Guyana and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2012 to explore the development of Hydro Power, Linden-Lethem Road and Deep Water Harbour to boost bilateral trade and cooperation.

This network would have enabled easy access by road to the neighbouring countries of Brazil, Venezuela and Surinam; reduced the costs of utilising the country's timber and natural resources, thus making them more competitive in international markets; diversified agricultural development by making more easily available suitable areas in the hinterland, particularly in the Intermediate and Rupununi savannahs; relieved the over-crowded coastland of a significant proportion of its population, thus improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of both the coastal and interior areas; and made more feasible the equitable distribution of economic activity, not only in the agricultural but also in the manufacturing and small- industries sector.

In 2012, The Government of Guyana signed a contract with CHEC of China for the expansion of the runway at the CJIA and the construction of a modern terminal building at an estimated cost of 131Million US Dollars.