# [GUY] Guyana



## alesmarv (Mar 31, 2006)

Any plans to switch Guyana and Surinam from LHD to RHD? 

Given the undeveloped road infrastructure, small population and more connections with the rest of South America a certainty I would think there would be no better time to switch then now? It has been done many times before and in their situation should be fairly straight forward and very beneficial in the long run.


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## Paperyostrich (Aug 20, 2011)

alesmarv said:


> Any plans to switch Guyana and Surinam from LHD to RHD?
> 
> Given the undeveloped road infrastructure, small population and more connections with the rest of South America a certainty I would think there would be no better time to switch then now? It has been done many times before and in their situation should be fairly straight forward and very beneficial in the long run.


But the countries are more or less isolated from the rest of South America and are really only connected with each other.

Secondly, all of the infrastructure is in place for cars to drive on the left hand side of the road, all of the cars are also right hand drive. Changing everything would be too expensive for a poor country like Guyana and to a lesser extent Suriname. I can't see them wanting to make the change, let alone acutally do it.


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## alesmarv (Mar 31, 2006)

Paperyostrich said:


> But the countries are more or less isolated from the rest of South America and are really only connected with each other.
> 
> Secondly, all of the infrastructure is in place for cars to drive on the left hand side of the road, all of the cars are also right hand drive. Changing everything would be too expensive for a poor country like Guyana and to a lesser extent Suriname. I can't see them wanting to make the change, let alone acutally do it.


Fair point but as time goes on the isolation will ultimately disappear and as it does the LHD dedicated infrastructure will only increase. Remember that most of the world was LHD and slowly changed, many countries did so in the 60's and 70's, Samoa changed from RHD to LHD in late 2009. The fact that the road infrastructure is so limited means that there would be little that would have to be changed beyond some signs. Of course a country like Brazil can help fund this as it would be beneficial to them and their car industry. Guyana and Surinam would benefit by being able to buy cheaper RHD drive vehicles, new and used and many produced in Brazil. Also it would make it a bit more practical to use engineering talent and knowledge from Brazil for road construction, this would ultimately make it cheaper and more efficient following similar standards.

I just think the countries would benefit long term and the sooner they take the plunge the more they will benefit. imo


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## Paperyostrich (Aug 20, 2011)

alesmarv said:


> Fair point but as time goes on the isolation will ultimately disappear and as it does the LHD dedicated infrastructure will only increase. Remember that most of the world was LHD and slowly changed, many countries did so in the 60's and 70's, Samoa changed from RHD to LHD in late 2009. The fact that the road infrastructure is so limited means that there would be little that would have to be changed beyond some signs. Of course a country like Brazil can help fund this as it would be beneficial to them and their car industry. Guyana and Surinam would benefit by being able to buy cheaper RHD drive vehicles, new and used and many produced in Brazil. Also it would make it a bit more practical to use engineering talent and knowledge from Brazil for road construction, this would ultimately make it cheaper and more efficient following similar standards.
> 
> I just think the countries would benefit long term and the sooner they take the plunge the more they will benefit. imo


I agree with you on those ponits, but I just don't think those countries have any desire to change in the near future.


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## IndigoJo (Apr 21, 2009)

iMiros said:


> I could not find Guyana - Venezuela border crossing, I'm not sure at all that is exist because I did not found a road link between the two countries. El Bochinche border is possible border crossing but there was no crossing infrastructure


There are no border crossings because Venezuela makes a territorial claim on western Guyana (which is more than half of the country). This may also explain the "infrastructural black hole" as Guyana may not want to invest in a region that could be seized from it.


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## Paperyostrich (Aug 20, 2011)

IndigoJo said:


> There are no border crossings because Venezuela makes a territorial claim on western Guyana (which is more than half of the country). This may also explain the "infrastructural black hole" as Guyana may not want to invest in a region that could be seized from it.


That explains a lot. I never knew that there was a "Territorial claim" on Guyana by Venezuela. Are the relations between the two countries bad because of this? 

It's most likely a political move by Guyana, not trying to make their country an easy target for Venezuela by building the infrastructure that could make a take over really easy.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Western Guyana is also extremely sparsely populated. For example Cuyuni-Mazaruni region has an area of over 47 000 km² and has a population of only 16 000 people, nearly all of whom live in one town called Bartica.


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## vatse (Apr 17, 2009)

*Road from Lethem (Brazilian border) to Georgtown*



























































































from http://tarmotamming.blogspot.com


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## vatse (Apr 17, 2009)

Checkpoint









Essequibo River, ferry crossing near Kurupukari






















































from http://tarmotamming.blogspot.com


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## vatse (Apr 17, 2009)

Linden









Road from Linden to Georgtown









from http://tarmotamming.blogspot.com


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## xrtn2 (Jan 12, 2011)

>


I didnt see that before.:nuts:


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## Skyven (May 19, 2014)

Escher said:


> About the border between Guyana and Venezuela, any overland or river crossing are forbiden since the later claims the Western territories of the first. With Uncle Chavez in power, this discussion has been raised louder lately.


What Uncle Lula and Uncle Dilma should do, is understand that half of actual Guyana is a Venezuela territory (about 60% of the Western part)... 

If Uncle Lula & Uncle Dilma wants to support Guyana, they should do it on the other side, the East.


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## alserrod (Dec 27, 2007)

Is Guyana a left hand driving country isolated by the rest of the territory?


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## jvitor2012 (Aug 25, 2012)

I know Lethem, it's a tiny commercial city. I'm from Boa Vista, Brazil. Many people of here go to Lethem to buy clothes and accessories. It's cheaper than the stores and malls of Boa Vista.

These are some pictures of Lethem taken by me in 2013:


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## jvitor2012 (Aug 25, 2012)

You can see the bridge and the road cross in Google Street View: https://www.google.com.br/maps/@3.3...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sUN28-VASiWYimMThHEQFEw!2e0

And this is the road that conects Boa Vista to Lethem, it's a very beautiful landscape: https://www.google.com.br/maps/@3.0...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1srqRUH2y021dwFXXfrqlvzQ!2e0


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## kostas97 (Jan 19, 2014)

Aren't there any tarmac roads in Guyana?


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## jvitor2012 (Aug 25, 2012)

^^ Only along the shore.


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## TheMangoMan (May 19, 2015)

I flew to Guyana in April. Unfortunately, I took mostly videos rather than pictures :tongue3: I will see if I have any worthy of posting, nevertheless. 

The roads in the capital are all paved, though the condition of some minor streets in the Georgetown are in awful condition. There is the paved highway along the coast, which expands to 4 lanes when in Georgetown. It actually follows the route of a railway that has long been closed. There also is the airport highway which they are working on expanding to be 4 lanes as well all the way to the international airport, and grading the sections that are already expanded. Yay, there's also new traffic lights.

But the rest of Guyana? I think most infrastructure improvement is only centralized in the capital. The interior is mostly dirt roads, I believe.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

The economy of Guyana is growing extremely fast, with a forecasted GDP growth of nearly 60% for 2022.

The reason is oil. Oil was discovered off the coast of Guyana in 2015 and went in production in 2019, leading to huge GDP growth since then.









IMF urges caution as oil-rich Guyana's economic growth nears 60%


Guyana's economic growth could reach close to 60% this year, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement on Tuesday, urging cautious policies even as the tiny South American nation benefits from surging oil production.




www.reuters.com





It makes you wonder how this oil revenue is being invested in Guyana. Maybe some new roads and bridges?


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## jvitor2012 (Aug 25, 2012)

I really want to know If they use this money to pave the road to Brazil. Both countries will got a lot of benefits from this conection.


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