A 500km dirt road in Guyana linking the capital Georgetown with Lethem is to be upgraded. The project is expected to cost $1 billion. The entire stretch of the route will be surfaced, which will make transport considerably easier and more reliable during periods of high rainfall. The project also includes building 50 new bridges.
Lethem is in the South-West of Guyana, close to the country’s border with Brazil. Improving the route will cut journey times and also help increase trade with Brazil, providing a much-needed economic boost. The work will help to develop the disputed Essequibo area,bordering with Venezuela, where massive oil reserves are located.
Construction work is expected to take until 2030 to complete. The road upgrade will cut journey times on the route considerably, with the drive between Georgetown and Lethem currently taking around 15 hours.
This follows from the World Bank providing financing worth $156 million for the Integrated Transport Corridors Project in February 2025. This is intended to improve internal access within Guyana and also to repair some of the road infrastructure damaged by severe flooding in 2021.
