Four-lane highway to end at Diamond

Dec 17, 2010 News

Officials of the IDB, Ministry of Public Works and government meeting with stakeholders yesterday at Duke Lodge on the extension of the four-lane highway from Providence to Diamond.

By Leonard Gildarie

The planned extension of the four-lane highway on the East Bank Demerara has been altered with the roadway now ending at Diamond, officials say.
Government had originally intended to extend the four-lane highway, which stops at Providence, to Grove, a heavily populated village, but the narrowness of the current public road there has caused the authorities to rethink.
Yesterday, the Government of Guyana, Ministry of Public Works and Communications and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) held a stakeholders’ workshop at Duke Lodge in Kingston, to discuss the US$17.5M project and its possible implications on businesses, road users and others that would be affected by the construction.
UK-based engineering consultants, Mott McDonald, have until February to submit the project designs which will see some 16 bridges and culverts widened and another access road to the New Diamond Housing Scheme.
Studies have shown that bulk of the East Bank Demerara traffic ends in the Grove/Diamond area with a bottleneck around the traffic lights at the intersection there. It was clear that consultants and government were cautious in this early stage of the project after traffic congestion, delays and cost overruns marred the previous four-lane construction done a few years ago from Ruimveldt to Providence.
Earlier this month, government and IDB inked a US$22M contract for this phase of the four-lane highway which officials said was crucial to ease congestion. It was estimated that 10,000 new vehicles are being added each year to the country’s road, placing severe pressure on the networks.
However, this time around, there is a call for more stakeholders’ input on what has been described as a “social engagement plan”, the environmental impact and the final designs. Several meetings have been held with residents and other stakeholders.
Additionally, the workshop was mandated to establish a special committee of stakeholders to provide assistance to the project.
However, one of the main concerns raised yesterday was another access road to Diamond, which has been earmarked to be constructed immediately south of the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), next to the current car park.
Yesterday, a DDL official called for consultations as the company had intended to build a sales centre next to the hire car park there.
There were also issues raised over planned major fast food outlets, especially in the Diamond area which currently has three new banks and a gas station.
There were concerns too of filter lanes and the use of heavy vehicles which have been blamed for road damage.
Along with the four-lane highway, authorities are hoping to add sidewalks along the roadway at the entrance to the New Diamond Housing Scheme, parking lanes, central medians that would allow pedestrians to have “refuge” to cross, and secondary bridges to link the Grove and Diamond villages to ease congestion.
Also on the cards are the constructions of drop kerbs off the sidewalks to allow access to properties.
IDB consultant, Simone Mangal; Rabindranauth Chandarpal, Transport Planning Officer, Ministry of Public Works and Communications; Hanna White, Social Scientist of Mott MacDonald, and Jamie Roan, Highway Technical Specialist, Mott MacDonald, were among the officials who facilitated the workshop yesterday.
In July, preparatory work commenced on the IDB loan request for the extension of the East Bank Demerara Road (EBDR) for eight miles from Providence to Grove Village.
MacDonald/SRKN’gineering (MMS) has conducted a feasibility and Environmental and Social Impact Study. Initial consultations, which included public and cottage meetings, focus groups, and interviews with a wide range of road users and residents in the proposed site between Providence and Grove were conducted in August and September 2010, under the direction of IDB.