> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Guyana Was Due the Berbice Bridge for Nothing on 12 June 2027. It Paid G$400 Million 269 Days Early. - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/why-pay-for-a-bridge-guyana-was-getting-free-berbice-2026/ - Published: 2026-11-09T23:10:02.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-12T23:26:44.000Z - Description: A 2008 order signed by the Minister gave the Berbice bridge company 21 years from 12 June 2006. The bridge was due to become Guyana's on 12 June 2027, free of cost. The government paid G$400 million for the company's shares on 16 September 2026, 269 days early. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Guyana, Infrastructure, Public Finance, Business, Beat: economics, MSME: indirect **Quick summary:** A 2008 order signed by the Minister gave the Berbice bridge company 21 years from 12 June 2006\. The bridge was due to become Guyana's on 12 June 2027, free of cost. The government paid G$400 million for the company's shares on 16 September 2026, 269 days early. By LCN Business Desk The Berbice bridge was always going to belong to Guyana. A date was set for it in 2008, and the law said it would cost nothing. **Four things happened, in this order.** \> **One.** The bridge was going to belong to Guyana on 12 June 2027\. At no cost. That was the deal from the start. \> **Two.** The government stopped the tolls 680 days before that date. The owners could no longer collect. So the government began paying them instead. \> **Three.** Those payments grew from G$215 million a year to over G$1 billion. \> **Four.** The government then said those payments were the reason to buy the owners out. It paid G$400 million on 16 September 2026, 269 days before the bridge was free anyway. \> **WHY PAY FOR A BRIDGE THAT YOU WERE GOING TO GET FOR FREE?** ## When was the bridge going to be ours? 12 June 2027\. The date comes from an order, not from an opinion. The order is called the Berbice River Bridge (Commencement of Toll) Order 2008\. It is Order No. 42 of 2008, and it was printed in the Official Gazette on 22 December 2008, in Legal Supplement B at page 472\. The Minister of Transport and Hydraulics with responsibility for public works signed it. It says the bridge "shall be maintained and operated by the Concessionaire for a period of twenty-one years commencing from the 12th day of June, 2006." Twenty-one years from 12 June 2006 ends on 12 June 2027\. That is 215 days from today. ## What did the law say we would get? The whole bridge, with no debts attached to it. The [Berbice River Bridge Act 2006](https://parliament.gov.gy/documents/acts/4677-act%5Fno%5F3%5Fof%5F2006.pdf?ref=lacaribenanews.com) is the law that set this up. Section 7(1)(a) says the agreement must hand back to the Minister all of the company's "right, title and interest in and to the Bridge," and it must come back "free and clear of all liens, encumbrances and obligations in connection with the Bridge." In plain words: Guyana was getting the bridge, and nobody's loan was coming with it. ## What did the government pay? G$400 million, for shares, to the owners. The former chairman of Berbice Bridge Company Inc, Paul Cheong, said the government bought all 400 million ordinary shares at G$1 each, and the money went to the people who held those shares. It did not go into the company. Payment was made on 16 September 2026. Four weeks earlier, on 21 August 2026, the company's members had voted to wind it up. ### Why pay for a bridge you were going to get for free? ## What is the one thing we still cannot see? The agreement itself. One document decides whether this was a saving or a waste. It is the Concession Agreement. Government auditors asked for it in 2015 and were told it was not available. It has still not been published. Those same auditors found something else in 2015\. The company did not own the bridge at all. It held a licence to operate one. The National Insurance Scheme had two of its own directors sitting on that board, and the audit records that this only became known to management when the 2012 accounts were finished in May 2015. The order that moved the running of the bridge to the Government in 2018 is set out in [what the official record holds](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/government-took-over-berbice-bridge-2018-still-paid-400-million-2026/). The reason the government gave for the price is set out in [the comparison at the old payment rate](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/berbice-bridge-400-million-to-save-159-million-old-toll-rate-2026/). The pension fund's share of this is set out separately, in [what the National Insurance Scheme holds in the bridge company](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-nis-berbice-bridge-906-million-maturities-2026/) and in [what happened to the fund in 2023](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-nis-fund-fell-2023-surplus-comprehensive-loss-2026/). ### Why pay for a bridge you were going to get for free? ### The entities \- **Berbice Bridge Company Inc** is the company that built and operated the bridge and was wound up on 21 August 2026\. - **Order No. 42 of 2008** set the 21-year period running from 12 June 2006\. - **Berbice River Bridge Act 2006** is the law whose section 7(1)(a) returns the bridge free and clear. - **Paul Cheong** is the company's former chairman, who stated the price and the share count. - **Concession Agreement** is the document that has never been published. - **National Insurance Scheme** is the state pension scheme and a shareholder in the company. ### What the title card says \- Headline: why pay for a bridge that you were going to get for free. - The date the bridge was due to become Guyana's: 12 June 2027\. - The period set by Order No. 42 of 2008: twenty-one years from 12 June 2006\. - Paid for the shares: G$400 million, on 16 September 2026\. - Days early: 269\. - Shares bought: all 400 million, at G$1 each. - Date the company's members voted to wind it up: 21 August 2026\. - Days before the bridge becomes Guyana's, from today: 215. ## Frequently Asked Questions When was the Berbice bridge due to become Guyana's? 12 June 2027\. Order No. 42 of 2008 gave the company twenty-one years from 12 June 2006. Was Guyana going to pay for it? No. Section 7(1)(a) of the Berbice River Bridge Act 2006 required the bridge to come back to the Minister free and clear of all liens, encumbrances and obligations connected to it. What did the government pay instead? G$400 million on 16 September 2026, for all 400 million ordinary shares at G$1 each. The former chairman said the money went to the shareholders, not into the company. How early was that? 269 days before the bridge was due to become Guyana's at no cost. What has not been published? The Concession Agreement. Government auditors were told in 2015 that it was not available, and it has still not been released.