Dismantling Demerara Harbour Bridge is Political Spite, Not Progress

The decision to dismantle the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) is not a matter of progress; it is a matter of politics. It is not about improving traffic management or enhancing the movement of people and goods across the Demerara River. It is about the continued and calculated effort to erase the contributions of the Forbes Burnham-led People’s National Congress (PNC) government from Guyana’s physical and historical landscape.

What the Irfaan Ali administration disguises as “modernisation” reeks of vindictiveness, a deliberate attempt to destroy one of the most enduring symbols of national achievement under Burnham’s leadership. The DHB was not merely steel and pontoons; it was the embodiment of Guyanese ingenuity, vision, and self-belief at a time when few believed such a feat was possible. Built in 1978 across one of the widest points of the Demerara River, the bridge stood as the world’s largest floating bridge, a marvel of engineering and perseverance. Forty-seven years later, it remains the fourth largest of its kind in the world, a living monument to what a small developing nation could accomplish with determination and purpose.

Yet, rather than preserve and repurpose this historic structure, the government’s intention is to dismantle it altogether under the guise of “progress.” The truth is far uglier. The DHB was built by a government the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has always despised. And because it bears Burnham’s legacy, it must go. This is political and ethnic vindictiveness masquerading as infrastructure planning, an act that continues the cycle of division and underdevelopment that has plagued Guyana for decades.

The irony is that the dismantling of the DHB will not solve the country’s worsening traffic crisis. The new Demerara Harbour Bridge (NDHB), by design and location, will serve a different purpose, catering primarily to heavier commercial traffic and long-haul freight. It will not adequately address the daily congestion faced by thousands of commuters who rely on the existing bridge. In fact, with traffic from the new bridge expected to merge with the already choked Heroes Highway corridor, Guyana may find itself trading one bottleneck for another.

Seasoned engineer Joe Holder, one of the minds behind the original bridge, has publicly warned against dismantling the structure. He cautioned that the move disregards the bridge’s cultural and historical significance and sacrifices a still-useful national asset on the altar of political vanity. His voice, however, joins a chorus of reason that this administration has repeatedly ignored.

There is a fundamental principle in modern infrastructure planning: you build new arteries to complement the old, not to destroy them. Across the world, governments preserve historic bridges and repurpose them as cultural landmarks or secondary routes. Guyana, on the other hand, seems determined to tear down its history in order to rewrite it.

The Demerara Harbour Bridge is more than a river crossing; it is a monument to a time when Guyanese dared to believe in themselves. To dismantle it is to dismantle our pride, our history, and our sense of continuity as a people. President Ali’s “One Guyana” mantra rings hollow when it manifests as the erasure of another group’s contribution to the national story.

A nation without memory is a nation adrift. To destroy the DHB is to declare that the only history worth keeping is that which serves the PPP’s narrative. And that, more than any traffic jam or infrastructure deficit, is the real tragedy facing Guyana today.